Celluloid #140

In Theaters


Pariah (2011) Rees - Alike is a teenager who gets straight As and wants her parents to be proud of her, but she's also a lesbian - something they are in denial about. Alike feels out of place everywhere. At home she is supposed to be a good Christian girly-girl. At the lesbian club, she isn't hard enough. She befriends a girl from church and the two strike up a connection. At every turn, we see someone hurting Alike emotionally, and sometimes physically. My only complaint is that the music and poetry are too cheesy. 4/5

In Home


Fay Grim (2006) Hartley - This is a sequel of sorts to Henry Fool. I hate that this movie is shot at a diagonal. In order to get her brother out of jail, Fay strikes up a deal with the FBI to go on a spy mission. Along the way she also finds out that her husband isn't really dead. This is a slow thriller, artsy beyond belief, and includes Hartley's signature stilted dialogue. I have loved some of his other movies, but this one didn't do it for me. 3/5

the Good Son (1993) Ruben - Mark's mom dies and his father sends him to live with an uncle and cousins for a while. Henry is basically Mark's age and initially the two seem to have a good time roughhousing and breaking windows, but over time, Henry's hijinks seem increasingly sinister. The worst part is that no one believes Mark. Henry skillfully turn the adults against Mark under the guise that he is grieving. Except for the very last two minutes of the movie, this had the best ending ever! 4/5

HappyThankYouMorePlease (2011) Radnor - This is essentially a hipster ensemble romantic comedy. Sam is cute but immature. On the way to talk to his publisher, he gets tangled up with a young black boy escaping his foster home. His friend Annie is bald, falls for the wrong guys, and has a fan in Buster Bluth.   Mary Catherine is Sam's childhood friend and she doesn't want her boyfriend Charlie to move to LA. In between Sam's adventures in babysitting, he also pursues a relationship with a local girl at a bar. He cute-schemes to get her to stay over for three days. Overall, he seems pretty annoying for dating purposes. The movie often comments on the cliches, but I can't decide if the self-reflexivity makes things better or worse. 2.5/5

the Red Shoes (1948) Powell & Pressburger - Victoria Page wants to become a famous ballet dancer. She gets picked up by a famous director, as does a young composer. Victoria gets notice for her role in the ballet called "The Red Shoes." That dance sequence is really interesting - beautiful and cool old-school special effects. Victoria also falls in love with the composer, much to the distaste of the director. He manages to separate them, but she chooses love over fame, at least initially. Tragedy ensues. 4/5

Celluloid #139

In Home


Another Earth (2011) Cahill - When Rhoda is 17, she gets accepted to MIT (for something space-related), but kills two people in a family of three in a car accident caused by her looking out the window of her car at Earth 2. After four years in jail, she works as a cleaner and seeks out the remaining man from the accident. Meanwhile, it is discovered that there is "another you" on Earth 2. Rhoda and John develop a relationship while she keeps her mistake a secret. Rhoda also wins an essay contest to go to Earth 2. 4.5/5

Our Idiot Brother (2011) Peretz - Ned might be kinda stupid, as evidenced by his getting locked up for selling weed to an officer in uniform, but his actions come from a place of kindness. He just believes in honesty and in helping people out without exploiting them. After getting out of jail, he stays with each of his three sisters - Liz, an overprotective mother of two whose jerk husband is having an affair, Miranda - a career girl trying to break into journalism, and Natalie - Brooklyn hipster living in a space with too many roommates including her lesbian girlfriend. When Ned enters their lives,his naivete initially seems to ruin things, but really just gets everything out in the open. Sounds like it could be too indie cutesy, but actually works well except for the ending. 4/5

Sleeping Beauty (2010) Breillat - Modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty, but this time the spells cause Anastasia to live as normal until the age of 6, then to sleep for 100 years and wake up as a 16 year-old. During those 100 years, she dreams about traveling around and living with a family with a boy a little older than her. Once awake she searches for the boy from her dreams and has some sexual experiences of both a hetero and homosexual persuasion. Kinda boring and pretentious in an unenjoyable way. 2/5

Strictly Ballroom (1992) Luhrmann - Super campy Australian film about ballroom dancing championships. Scott gets dumped by his partner because she doesn't appreciate his new steps, which could get them disqualified. Fran, a beginner, approaches Scott and eventually the two begin practicing in secret and incorporating moves from Fran's Spanish background. Ultimate ugly duckling story with outrageous colors. 4/5

Westworld (1973) Crichton - In the future, the general public has the opportunity to visit virtual-reality type resorts where they can act out their fantasies. The resorts are Westworld, Medieval World, and Roman World. Once in the resorts, you can sleep with whoever and shoot at people without consequence because they are really robots. However, the robots seem to be malfunctioning and turning against the humans. Totally campy. 3.5/5

Celluloid #138

In Theaters


A Dangerous Method (2011) Cronenberg - Cronenberg has moved on from the horrors of the body to the mysteries of the mind. Sabina S. comes to Dr. Jung as a patient suffering from hysteria. The root of her problem seems to be primarily sexual tied with feelings of shame and humiliation. Over the course of treating her with the "talking method" the two begin an affair. Additionally, Jung admires Freud and the two become friends, but their relationship deteriorates over time. The pacing of this film is really strange and overall it was just fine. 3/5

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011) Alfredson - The director of Let the Right One In is still exploring the theme of loyalty - this time with regards to the British Secret Service. We discover early on that there is a mole in the organization. We follow George Smiley around while he tries to figure out who defected. He's technically retired in retirement, but still has access to a lot of contacts. The film seems to to be deliberately confusing to the point that I couldn't keep the character straight. The pacing is slow and not nearly as thrillery as I would have thought, but still exciting in a smoldering way. 3.5/5

In Home


Source Code (2011) Jones - This film is essentially Groundhog's Day, but with a military element. A soldier essentially jumps time to a period 8 minutes before a train is bombed to death to try and figure out who is responsible. There is the thinnest love story and the ending is pretty bad. A disappointing follow-up to Moon. 2.5/5