dazzlem Reviews

No Country for Old Men (2007)

I don't understand why they did it.

[7/10 · 9 November 2007]

I'm a Coen Brother's fan and I went in with very high hopes. What with the people that matter calling this their best offering in years, some going so far as to call it their best ever. That's reason enough for me to shell out the $11.50. Something I do less and less these days. Do I think I got my money's worth? Yes and no. For the first hour and change I was treated to a first rate thriller with grand, Sam Shepard's America type themes, a lot like Blood Simple actually. And I, the eager film goer, became immersed, developed a fondness and then considerable concern for the guy I took to be the protagonist. Then with less that a half hour to go, they did the darndest thing. They dipped out of my hero's story, at the climax of all places..in an edit that looked and felt like a bad projectionist had just changed reels. It was, as I've read here and elsewhere, a move in keeping with the style of the novel. The choice to tell the story in this way was apparently one of those form equals theme moves like Beckett's Waiting For Godot. I spent the better part of an hour chewing it over with my girlfriend. We're not the sharpest knives in the drawer for sure, so maybe a second viewing will give me something more to hold on to.

Following Sean (2005)

This thing just destroyed me..

[10/10 · 1 August 2007]

I don't know if it was the mood I was in or what, but I just had a wonderful time with this movie. It's scope is epic. It covers 60 years of counter culture adventures big and small in 90 minutes. The film maker's whole life is here. The thing is decades in the making. We jump back and forth through space and time meeting a cast that runs the gambit from hero of the American Communist movement to capitalist Russian Trophy bride. FAR SUPERIOR to the similarly subjected over-hyped "Tarnation" of a few years ago. I guarantee you will like this movie. It's a great story told in a very cool way. A documentary that engages the way fictional narrative engages. This gets tossed around a lot in reviews but; It is a remarkable achievement.

Selah.

What Remains (2005)

Art and Artist

[7/10 · 6 July 2007]

Nicely made doc about renowned photographer Sally Mann. It balances very informative scenes about the process of photography with intimate family scenes resulting in a strangely sad movie that packs a serious cathartic wallop. The film maker spent many years with the subject and captured her shift in subject matter from life to death. It's quite a journey that at times seems ready to shift into madness. The cinematography is quite good as is the score. Be warned, some of the scenes are NOT for young children. I was shocked by some of the images at a death farm where corpses are allowed to decompose in natural settings. They, of course become remarkable photos in Mann's capable hands. Running now in rotation on Cinemax.

Zodiac (2007)

The one we've been waiting for!

[9/10 · 5 March 2007]

David Fincher has secured his place in the first tier. The maestro drops his recognizable style, save a few remarkable exceptions, and focuses on performance and character. He allows some ugly muddy low light scenes that would send most perfectionists to the medicine cabinet. A little more light would of looked better, yes, but probably not as truthful to the actors and the "vibe" of the scene. The result is a 70's movie that looks and feels like a movie made in the seventies. Many people have tried to get that right and failed. Fincher pulls it off. He had help. The BEST cast in years. The list of developed, memorable characters is at least 20 deep, quite a feat even at two hours and whatever. And then there's the script...so good it makes me wanna puke. Smart, funny, crafted with great payoffs in every scene, at every turn.. except at the end, where closure would of made THIS movie unnecessary anyway. It's not about the poor sick creature that performed those murders, but his victims, all of them. Frightening. I suspect what was frightening for Fincher was turning his big moments over to the actors. As hard as they are to do, choreographed camera moves can be "gotten right". To get some of these scenes right (the interview of Lee at the factory) you need to catch lighting in a bottle. As great as the shot of The Pan Am bldg was, I keep thinking about Rufulo taking the tomatoes off his BLT. Bra-Efren-VO to all involved!

Caché (2005)

Don't You Dare Roll Those Credits...

[18 January 2007]

An hour into this I turned to my girl and said, "Watch, this sucker's gonna just stop all of a sudden without tying any of these plot points up." And...sure enough... Here's the thing, I've spent my entire adult life working with and studying dramatic narrative. I got the allegory, felt it, dug it.. Hell, I'm easy. You can "Art House" me until I bleed from my eyes. I can take it. I could write ten thousand words about the theme of this movie but, I really don't care, because it didn't respect it's own remarkable story, a plot that was going so well.. I even turned to my girl at one point and said. "Honey if they can wrap this up, we got a real masterpiece on our hands." The dread, the who done its, and yes...the gosh-darn allegory which, as important as it is, and believe me you're preaching to the choir when it comes to whitey keeping everyone else down but....the plot...Look just a make a meandering mood piece from the start, a Wim Wenders kinda thing or even a Mike Leigh joint if you wanna get chatty, but to start down this path and not have the WRITING CHOPS to wrap it up....scrap it and start over, or better yet give it to someone else to FINISH for you. The tragedy, and I'm obviously upset, I finished the film no more than ten minutes ago, but, the tragedy is that it could have done it all. I don't know what theory he's working with, Brecht maybe, detaching me so I THINK, maybe, whatever he tried to do to me, all he did was frustrate me that he couldn't write his way home...I doubt that was his intention. Yo Mr GENIUS FILM MAKER...it's called a second draft....try it next time.

The Boys of 2nd Street Park (2003 TV Movie)

Sucks you In

[6/10 · 10 December 2006]

I switched to this thing twenty minutes in and it really hooked me. I was in a flipping mood too, but I started to care about these guys almost immediately and put down the remote. Some of it is captivating. Like a scene in which the loss of a child is communicated in painstaking detail by the heartbroken father. At times the tone can be overly sentimental, but in this case, I won't begrudge the film maker his love of subject. It's kinda like the regular guys Big Chill. The Summer of Love leaves some free and others on a road of drug addiction and ruin. Plenty of honesty on display. Well edited and scored. The music especially evoking.

Miller's Crossing (1990)

There are three..

[10/10 · 7 April 2006]

For a decade and a half the debate has raged whether "Godfather" or "Goodfellas" is the greatest of the multitude of modern mob movies. My two cents has always been that they are equally good, distinct, works of art but that "Miller's Crossing" belongs in the conversation as well. Released three days after Goodfellas in Sept. '90, MC happens to be the best script of the three, sorry Mario, and while it can't match the sheer verite' thrill of a Deniro Pesci improv, the Hammettesque dialog transports you to another place entirely. Godfather's style is equaled as is the (GASP) cast. Finney-Brando (edge to Brando) Byrne-Pacino(edge Pacino), Keaton-Gay Harden (edge Gay Harden) Polito-Duvall (pick-em), Cazale-Turturro (edge Cazale), Caan-Freeman (edge to Caan).. Close calls most of them and tough to judge since stylistically they're doing very different things. All three bear the voice of the artists that made them. That's what makes them great. All three.

Sexy Beast (2000)

Best Film of the Last Ten Years

[10/10 · 29 December 2005]

That's really it. This director is a god-damn genius. The script is so funny and the love story so on the money. Everyone talks about Kingsley, and he's great of course (he got the Oscar nod but lost to Broadbent) but the truth of the matter is the whole ensemble is terrific. Dee Dee, and H and Teddy, these characters are all time greats, And Winstone...forget about it, he makes Kingsley powerful. Winstone's got him by a hundred pounds but you believe he's afraid of Ghandi..I love him. I'd walk a mile on my hands and knees through broken glass just to have him pee on my toothbrush. If you haven't seen Birth yet, check it out. This guy Glazer scares me he's so talented check out the Radiohead videos while you're at it.