Celluloid #102

In Home

Dead Alive (1992) Jackson - An overbearing mother tries to prevent her adult son from dating, and in her nosy efforts, gets bitten by an evil rat-monkey that transforms her into a zombie-like creature. The special effects are over-the-top and totally silly. The horror is gross-out rather than scary and can easily be lumped into the same category of much of Sam Raimi's horror films. In my opinion, the film starts out as really fun, but towards the end as the body count rises and the bloodfest is unrelenting, I started getting pretty bored. 3/5

Happy Together (1997) Wong - A gay couple wants to start over, so they leave Hong Kong for Argentina, but promptly break up on a failed roadtrip to Iguazu Falls. Fai gets a job as a doorman, while Wing starts working as a prostitute. After Wing gets badly beaten up, Fai takes care of him opening another chapter in their tumultuous and often painful relationship. Strikingly beautiful, as one would expect from Wong Kar-wai. 4/5

House of the Devil (2009) West - Horror film done in throwback 80s style. Samantha needs money quick and decides to take a babysitting job. When she arrives, Samantha discovers that she won't actually be watching a kid, but rather the elderly mother-in-law. Needless to say, things get weird and scary as the night progresses. This film is actually really stylish, combining Argento and Hitchcock shots with the 1980s. The soundtrack is really great and overall the film is fun and not too jumpy. 4/5 

Celluloid #101

In Home

Blind Beast (1969) Masumura - An evil blind masseuse drugs an erotic photo model and brings her to his lair of oversized body parts. He's trying to pioneer "the art of touching" for the blind. The film wants to straddle the tricky boundary between rape and love as Aki begins to appreciate someone worshiping her body. Ultimately an unbridled male fantasy, but so absurd that it's still interesting to watch. 3.5/5

Chloe (2010) Egoyan - Catherine suspects that her husband is cheating on her, but to be sure she hires Chloe, an escort to seduce him. Catherine perhaps gets too close to Chloe and gets turned on by Chloe's description of the affair. Needless to say, some people fall off the handle. A fun, trashy thriller. 3.5/5

the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010) Oplev - An old man wants to solve the 40 year-old mystery of the disappearance of his niece. He hires disgraced journalist, Micke, to investigate before he has to serve a prison sentence. Meanwhile. Lisbeth is a talented hacker and researcher working on checking out Micke. She's pretty tough, but has to endure some evil woman-directed hatred in this film. She and Micke team up to work the case. I was intrigued and wary of the hype surrounding these stories, but I have to say this is really good for what it is: an engaging, slick, thriller. 4/5

Good Dick (2008) Palka - Really not as risqué as the title would have you believe. This is the story of a girl who likes to rent softcore from the local video store and the clerk that has deemed her the object of his affection. They both have their problems. She barely leaves the house and seems to have huge emotional walls. He lives in his car and apparently has a shady junkie past. However, he's actually really sweet and extremely persistent, and I liked their weird chemistry that often involves her verbally abusing him. 3.5/5

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Allen - Three sisters and their love lives. Hannah is the oldest and most stable, but accused of not really needing anyone else. Lee begins having an affair with Hannah's husband Elliott. Holly is the youngest and flails a bit trying to make it as an actress/caterer. Holly is also connected to Hannah's love life by getting involved with her ex-husband. Pretty typical Woody Allen themes of fear of death, and complicated relationships. 4/5

Schizopolis (1996) Soderbergh - Really, who knows what is going on in this film? (and you are warned in the intro that it is definitely your fault as viewer if you don't get it). Here are some things that happen: the main character sometimes works a boring office job where he is unfairly promoted and sometimes he plays a dentist/stalker. Sometimes characters speak in descriptions of the type of dialogue without any content (ex. "generic greeting" or "cheerful-sounding query"). There's also Elmo Oxygen, a pest controller, who seduces bored housewives by speaking nonsense phrases. The thing is, even though I don't know the point or meaning of most of this, I still actually enjoyed watching the film. 4/5

Celluloid #100!

In Home

Afterschool (2010) Campos - In a prep high school, everyone talks about sex much more than they are actually having it. Lots of porn is watched in the dorms and talk of blow jobs around the lunch table. The sexual "transgressions" are soon overshadowed by the fatal cocaine overdose of the popular twin girls on campus. Robert was filming them as part of a project for the Audio/Visual Club, but fails to get them any immediate help. This film is dark and instantly brings to mind many Haneke films, but Benny's Video in particular, especially in its examination of voyeurism. 4/5

Ajami (2010) Copti & Rihan - A neighbor boy gets mistakenly shot in a retaliation. In order to get a ceasefire, one Israeli family has to pay off a mob-like family. The sum is way beyond their means, which forces the son, Omar, to seek more illegal ways to pay their debt. His poor decisions regarding stealing cars, selling drugs, and falling in love with a Christian girl all have negative consequence for those around him. 3.5/5

Glen or Glenda (1953) Wood - A transvestite commits suicide, and what follows is a documentary-style segment that makes a case for dressing like a woman (more beautiful! more comfortable!). Surprising how much the film tries to encourage understanding and tolerance, for what I assume to be fairly deviant behavior in the '50s. The conflict lies in how Glen should let his fiancé, Barbara, know about his secret life as Glenda. 4/5

Prodigal Sons (2010) Reed - Paul grew up to become Kim, and returns to her hometown for a high school reunion. Kim has not been back to this small town in Montana since the transition. In addition, her brother Marc had a brain injury and desperately clings to a past that he is also incredibly bitter about...especially the popularity Paul received in high school. On top of all of that, it comes to light that Marc is actually the biological grandson of Orson Welles. Kim is the filmmaker and I appreciate that she doesn't come off looking like a saint as she is often incredibly selfish and impatient with Marc and his mental condition. Despite all of that randomness and drama, at its heart, this is a documentary about a broken family trying to find a way to reconcile, all though it sometimes feels like too much is trying to fit into the storyline. 3.5/5 

the Secret in Their Eyes (2009) Campanella - A retired lawyer decides to write a book about a case that has plagued him for 20 years. Liliana was raped and beaten to death, but it took detectives and the police a year to catch him. Unfortunately, he was quickly released by a crooked politician. All the main characters are haunted by their pasts and full of regret one way or another. 4/5 

Vincere (2010) Bellocchio - Mussolini was a player! He had a wife and a young daughter, but also impregnated his lover, who didn't know about his wife. Ida (the lover) gets insanely jealous, especially because she fronted the money to start his newspaper. They end up getting married, but later she is made out to be crazy and both her and her son are placed in institutions where nobody believes their connections to the dictator. A very stylish epic by a director who made an Italian film that I loved in the 1960s: Fists in the Pocket. Both deal with (perceived?) madness, but I prefer the manic style of the earlier film, and yet still appreciate that Bellocchio is still working. 3.5/5

The "Celluloid" portion of this blog has been going strong since May 2008. I try to blog weekly, but will usually skip it if I'm too busy or have seen less than three films in the previous week. Curiously, you can probably tell how depressed or hermitty I have been based on frequency of posting + quantity of films. For a little self-indulgence to celebrate 100, here's a list of probably my 20 favorite films of all time (in alphabetical order because I cannot choose to more certainty than this)

Badlands

Band of Outsiders

Breaking the Waves

Cache

Closely Watched Trains

Devils on the Doorstep

Down by Law

Fargo

Fight Club

Ivan's Childhood

Killer of Sheep

Killer's Kiss

Matador

the Proposition

Punch-Drunk Love

Royal Tenenbaums

le Samourai

Stroszek

Werckmeister Harmonies

Woman in the Dunes

Hopefully I can keep it together for another 100 more...

Celluloid #99

In Theaters

Enter the Void (2010) Noe - Neon nightmare with the sentiment "Life's a Bitch and then you die" and maybe that the key to life is the nipple.  I was into the overstimulation of the opening credits, but sadly what follows is repetitive, pretty boring, and about an hour too long. Oscar and his sister Linda live in Tokyo. He deals drugs and she works as a stripper. Their parents died when they were young and they are unnaturally close. Their lives seem totally depressing and Oscar gets killed as the result of a series of bad decisions. This happens in the first 15 minutes I would guess, and then the rest of the movie he floats around watching his sister. 1.5/5

In Home

Claire's Knee (1970) Rohmer - Jerome is going to get married to Lucinde, but he runs into an old writer friend. She challenges him to an experiment where he would seduce the young neighbors. Jerome first tries Laura, but she rebuffs his advances. Then he becomes obsessed with Claire, and yes, her knee. So much talking and moralizing and philosophizing in all of Rohmer's films, to the point where I think I feel pretty medium about his work overall. 3/5

Friday (1995) Gray - So whatever. A film where two friends spend the afternoon getting high, flirting with girls, and avoiding paying back the guy who sold them the weed. Initially, I was disappointed because I didn't think the movie was that funny, but then I started laughing when describing the excessive farting to my friends, so maybe I did think it was a little funny after all. 3/5

Lacombe Lucien (1974) Malle - When Lucien gets denied acceptance to the Underground French Resistance, he ends up working on the other side for the German Police. Early on we see scenes of Lucien killing animals, so you know he's got an evil streak. The authority goes to his head, but he seems a little like a typical teenager when he develops a crush on the daughter of a Jewish tailor. 3.5/5

Nanook of the North (1922) Flaherty - A portrait of people living in the harshest of environments, often on the brink of starvation. Often considered the first documentary, scenes of the Inuit making an igloo or ice fishing are pretty remarkable. 4/5

Vengeance is Mine (1979) Imamura - Iwao has been a bad seed ever since he was a child. An initial rebellious streak evolves into adult murderous tendencies. While Iwao leaves a trail of bodies behind him in the midst of being on the run, his wife is carrying on a relationship with his father. For much of the film, Iwao poses as a professor at a hotel known for procuring prostitutes, and falls in love with the hotel owner. A typical arc for a crime story, but still very stylish. 4/5

Celluloid #98

In Theaters

Catfish (2010) Joost - Nev is a 24 year-old photographer who strikes up a friendship with 8 year-old Abby when she sends him a painting of one of his photos. Over several months, he becomes friends with much of Abby's family through Facebook, and even flirts with her half-sister. That's all I can really say without ruining things. All though I would like to point out that this film is being very strangely marketed. I saw it at a multiplex (it belongs at a smaller, artier, or niche theater) and the trailer makes it look like a suspense thriller, when really there is one sorta scary part and basically the film is about the evolving nature of relationships given current technology. 4/5

Never Let Me Go (2010) Romanek - Cathy H., Tommy D., and Ruth all grew up in a boarding school. One "subversive" teacher lets them know their fates - everyone at the school is being raised to become organ donors and will die before they reach middle age. In addition to this fascinating alternate reality, there's an ongoing love story. Needless to say, I cried and cried. It should be noted that this film is really gorgeous in addition to its compelling plot. 4/5

the Social Network (2010) Fincher - Extremely fun for a film that revolves around software creation and some legal proceedings. I love the quick witty dialogue and how seedy this Internet phenomenon gets. Nearly everyone in the film comes off looking like a villain, with the exception of Mark Zuckerberg's former best friend Eduardo. Highlights include the "Winklevi"- twin Olympic crew rowers and Justin Timberlake as the creator of Napster. This film succeeds because it's not really (or not solely) about Facebook, but rather classic themes of too much ambition, loneliness, and betrayal. 4/5

In Home

the Big Heat (1953) Lang - Detective Bannion is a bit of a rebel and is trying to solve a case of a faked suicide by a fellow policeman and the murder of his mistress. Bannion does not listen to his superiors when they tell him to back down, and then his wife gets killed in a car bomb meant for him. This noir is notable for how hard people punch each other, but otherwise a fairly typical storyline for the genre. 3.5/5

the Last Dragon (1985) Schultz - In New York, apparently black people love Bruce Lee and martial arts. Within the first ten minutes there are so many great outfits, a drag queen, and appearances by Rudy Huxtable and Bill H. Macy. Leroy may be good at fighting, but he's pretty innocent about many other areas of life, in particular, sex. A love story develops with Vanity while Leroy deals with accepting that he is the "one true master." 4/5

A Nos Amours (1983) Pialat - Suzanne is young and sexually liberated. She begins by dating Luc, but then she seduces an American, and later she is sleeping with Bernard. Father and daughter speak fairly openly about their affairs, but their family is totally dysfunctional. Everyone slaps each other, Suzanne's brother is too infatuated with her, etc. It becomes clear that Suzanne is looking for love in the boys she dates because her family cannot offer that. 3.5/5   

Celluloid #97

In Theaters

the Town (2010) Affleck - Fun heist movie turned love story. Doug and three friends all grew up in Charlestown and take up robbing banks and armored vehicles - the town's favorite pastime. When Doug has to check up on the bank manager from their latest job, he ends up striking up a romance with her. He tries to keep it a secret and a "one last job" scenario develops. For a while I was worried that the film was heading for some Shawshank Redemption territory, but it refrains from that sort of sentiment. 3.5/5

In Home

Burden of Dreams (1982) Blank - Pretty incredible documentary about the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. The main struggle is the key scene where a boat is lifted up a mountain to cross into a river. Amazing that they pulled it off at all, and showcases Herzog's tendency to make film-making as difficult as possible. There are struggles with the natives and with nature as a whole; leading to Herzog's famous line about "nature is full of obscenity..." As a herzog acolyte, I loved it. 5/5

Greenberg (2009) Baumbach - Roger Greenberg is pretty unlikeable, but also really easy to relate to. He has spent some time in a mental institute (for depression?) and now at 40, he's wondering how to live his life. He gets involved with his brother's personal assistant (Greta Gerwig - I'm so into her normal-looking girl body) who is 26. She spends her time singing, drinking, fucking, etc. and Roger probably had a similar lifestyle at her age. What is supposed to happen to those "emerging adults" in their 30s? 3.5/5

Man with the Movie Camera (1929) Vertov - Early experimental film comprised of images and lacking actors, a set, or an actual story. Instead we are presented with some interpretation of life in Russia and the film at barely over an hour achieves a really great rhythm. Favorite sections include the factory scenes and the sports section. Easy to see this film's influence on later filmmakers. 4/5

Nosferatu (1929) Murnau - Classic vampire story, but with an emphasis on a plague connection. Villagers think that young people are dying from the dreaded disease, not from getting their blood sucked. While (or maybe because) this film is so old, Nosferatu is legitimately creepy, especially in the scene where he's carrying a coffin around. I would have liked this a lot more if not for one thing - the music! So bad, so out of place. 4/5

Seven (1995) Fincher - Crime thriller about two detectives trying to solve a case involving a serial killer using the "seven deadly sins" as his template for seeking out victims. The crime scenes are gruesome, but Fincher has a way of still preserving an artistic visual style. Brad Pitt plays a sympathetic idiot, and the ending is clever if a little obvious. Totally whet my appetite for Fincher's newest out this weekend. 4.5/5

Test Pattern #5

So before all of the new Fall shows start, I thought I should give myself a clean slate and post about the shows I have been watching all summer...

Dexter (Season 4) - Unfortunately some of the entertainment feeds I read totally spoiled this season for me, but even so, I really liked this season with John Lithgow as the primary antagonist. I think the season started a bit slow, but got going once Dexter and Arthur develop a closer relationship, things pick up. I gotten pretty used to the formula arc that every season seems to take (except Season 2...my least favorite season) where there's another serial killer on the loose. Debra is super annoying, but generally key in discoveries regarding the case, and the finales consist of Dexter killing the other serial killer. Even though I know and expect the plot to go that way, the chase is still fun, and entertaining to hear my roommate scream.

Friday Night Lights (Season 4) - The most tearjerky season yet. I literally cried every episode but two. Really, this season's core was about Matt Saracen and Tim Riggins and their continual heartbreaks. Matt and Julie break up, Matt loses his dad, and finally finds a way to move out of Dillon. Riggins couldn't hack it in college, so comes back to Dillon and tries to find a way to make a life for himself. He and his brother get involved in some illegal activity, but it's so sympathetic in this small town where it's hard to get ahead financially. I think this show has always been really good at dealing with racial issues, and this season they up the ante by moving the coach to the cross-town high school, which is demographically poorer and more diverse than relatively privileged Dillon High School. I enjoyed the additions of Vince, Luke, and Jess and it makes me really sad that next season will be the final season to cry about this town and these people.

Homicide: Life on the Street (Seasons 6 & 7) - Now, I'm pretty willing to name Homicide as one of the best shows of the 1990s, but the final season nearly tainted that impression. Season 6 introduces a few new, but not as beloved characters, but overall the season was still one of the best. The show dives deeper into some racial prejudices and takes an interesting direction with Kellerman's character. It's also the last season for Pembleton, which is both heartbreaking and fascinating to watch. Season 7 is a pretty big mess. At this point an additional couple characters are added which nobody really likes. The music also gets really strange this season and the storylines increasingly cheesy. I'm not really sure what happened to the writers or directors, but it was a definite misstep. I had to see the conclusion of this show...I just wish the last season wasn't so painful.

Peep Show (Season 1) - This show is easy to gobble up with 25 minute episodes and only 6 episodes per season (and available on Hulu). It's British and basically has two main characters who are roommates. They are both really pathetic but in completely different ways. Mark is really square and has a boring office job. He's also a little chubby, totally neurotic, and constantly plotting how to sleep with his co-worker while simultaneously worrying about some condition with his balls. Jeremy is a complete failure. He fancies himself an electronic musician, but he's awful and cannot land or keep any actual paying jobs. He is also obsessed with trying to get laid, but is only marginally more successful than Mark.

Sons of Anarchy (Seasons 1 & 2) - Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there is a mini-zeitgeist going on about motorcycle culture. The Dream came out with Yamaha. I happened to see the SF Vampire MC while drinking with some co-workers. Then there's Sons of Anarchy, which probably made me start noticing motorcycles at all. I'm pretty into this show...Katey Sagal is surprisingly hot as the main "old lady," the rival gang is a bunch of Latinos from Oakland, and there's this whole Hamlet thing going on between the main character (Jax) and his stepfather (Clay played by Ron Perlman) and Jax's dead father who left a manifesto behind. This show is full of likable gray characters with a strong sense of community and ties to family, but questionable morals in many other arenas. Season 2 features guest appearances by Henry Rollins and Alan Arkin...Season 3 is airing right now.

True Blood (Season 3) - My goodness has True Blood gotten ridiculous. I liked this season better than last season, but perhaps just because I've become numb to the sheer number of supernatural beings. At least Maryanne is gone...This time the main villain is Russell Edgington, a gay vampire who refuses to stop feeding on humans, has control over werewolves, and also wants to manipulate Bill, Eric, and get Sookie in his possession. This season includes fairies, werewolves, and werepanthers, and probably some other shit that I'm forgetting. Sam gets tired of being taken advantage of, Lafayette gets an annoying boyfriend, and Arlene is probably entering a Rosemary's Baby-type scenario. This show has gotten way past the point where I could recommend it to anyone and keep a clear conscience, but I just know I won't be able to help but watch next season.