Cinematicalhttp://www.cinematical.comCinematicalhttp://www.cinematical.com/media/feedlogo.gifCinematicalhttp://www.cinematical.comen-usCopyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/400 Screens, 400 Blows - I Take Back What I Said About Ben Kingsleyhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/17/400-screens-400-blows-i-take-back-what-i-said-about-ben-kings/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/17/400-screens-400-blows-i-take-back-what-i-said-about-ben-kings/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/17/400-screens-400-blows-i-take-back-what-i-said-about-ben-kings/#commentsFiled under: ,



A little over a year ago, I was assigned a "Cinematical Seven" on the most overrated actors in Hollywood. I stand by five of my choices, but things have changed for two of the others. Heath Ledger (#4) was one, and his amazing performances in both I'm Not There and The Dark Knight proved me wrong, not to mention that he's no longer alive to be overrated, underrated or any kind of rated. The other was Ben Kingsley (#1). For some reason I have seen five Ben Kingsley movies in the past three months. Seeing such a wide range of performance in such a short time has caused me to re-think my opinion on him. The first Kingsley film I saw this year was The Wackness (31 screens), as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. I didn't much like the film; I found it to be a rather bland, tame coming-of-age picture disguised as a daring snapshot-of-an-era movie. And Kingsley's performance as a pot-smoking shrink struck me as yet another piece of overacting, with lots of weird pauses and run-on sentences in his dialogue.

His turn as the villain in War, Inc. (20 screens) didn't fare much better. I liked the film, but strapped to a wheelchair, his immobile body only increased his tendency to overdo it in his line readings. The third movie, Transsiberian (opening this week on 2 screens), proved somewhat more interesting. He played a Russian narcotics detective, complete with an accent, but somehow his performance perfectly clicked with that sturdy suspense film. The fourth film, The Love Guru (over 400 screens), was by far the worst of the lot but also proved the most revealing.


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]]>ben kingsleyBenKingsleycinematicalfilmmovieJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 17 Jul 2008 13:02:00 EST400 Screens 400 Blows - 2008 at Midpointhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/10/400-screens-400-blows-2008-at-midpoint/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/10/400-screens-400-blows-2008-at-midpoint/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/10/400-screens-400-blows-2008-at-midpoint/#commentsFiled under: ,



Here's one of my dirty little secrets: I love lists and I keep track of my year's ten best movies all year long. Most other critics hastily assemble their lists at the last second, which is partly why so many December movies dominate; critics can't remember what they've seen earlier in the year. My list shows that 2008 has had a pretty poor first half, but I do have some contenders for listhood. Two movies are currently competing for the top spot, though I need to see them both again to be sure. Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon (6 screens) is one; it has a lovely, laid-back, observant quality and feels less severe than some of Hou's other recent films. But I haven't yet decided if the film is a comedy or a tragedy. It all feels pretty light and insignificant, except for the saddest thing: no one seems to notice the red balloon of the title, drifting around Paris, unable to find a boy like Pascal to love it. The film also contains the year's most vibrant performance: Juliette Binoche playing a frenzied single mom working with a puppet troupe.

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]]>be kind rewindBeKindRewindcinematicaldiary of the deadDiaryOfTheDeadencounters at the end of the worldEncountersAtTheEndOfTheWorldfadosfeaturedfilmflight of the red balloonFlightOfTheRedBalloonmother of tearsMotherOfTearsmoviemy blueberry nightsMyBlueberryNightsstill lifeStillLifethe duchess of langeiasthe man from londonTheDuchessOfLangeiasTheManFromLondonyou the livingYouTheLivingJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 10 Jul 2008 13:02:00 EST400 Screens, 400 Blows - July Fourth Movieshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/04/400-screens-400-blows-july-fourth-movies/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/04/400-screens-400-blows-july-fourth-movies/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/04/400-screens-400-blows-july-fourth-movies/#commentsFiled under: ,



It's pretty easy to pick out Christmas movies and Halloween movies, and it's not too hard to find a New Year's movie, or even Arbor Day or Memorial Day movies. But how do you select a Fourth of July movie? Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) takes place during the Fourth of July, when the sheriff (the late, great Roy Scheider) tries to close the beach to protect the people from the killer shark and the greedy mayor wants to keep the beaches open to make lots of money. And who can forget Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991), with its image of a cackling, cigar-smoking Robert De Niro looming over the helpless, passive family, while fireworks explode overhead? These movies may not be entirely appropriate, or they may be all-too-appropriate symbols of America in 2008, but either way, they're both terrific movies.

The road movie is a uniquely American genre; unlike other parts of the world, Americans have the freedom to drive across 3000 miles of open land without getting hassled. It also involves cars, for which Americans have a singular passion. There are dozens of great road movies (not surprisingly), but let's go with three of the most unique examples. Tim Burton's cult classic Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) brings the title hero on the road to find his stolen bicycle; the film also has the best hitch-hiking sequences since It Happened One Night. Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) is the ultimate existential car movie, and David Lynch's The Straight Story (1999) is the road movie transplanted to a power lawnmower (which is pretty American, too, when you think about it).

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]]>cinematicalfeaturedfilmfourth of julyFourthOfJulyjuly 4thJuly4thmovieJeffrey M. AndersonFri, 04 Jul 2008 11:02:00 EST400 Screens, 400 Blows - Mavericks, Auteurs & Geniuseshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/26/400-screens-400-blows-mavericks-auteurs-and-geniuses/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/26/400-screens-400-blows-mavericks-auteurs-and-geniuses/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/26/400-screens-400-blows-mavericks-auteurs-and-geniuses/#commentsFiled under: ,



In describing today's best directors, three terms are generally used (and overused): Maverick, Genius and Auteur. A "maverick" is now used to describe virtually anyone who makes a movie without using Hollywood money. An "auteur" is used to describe anyone who writes as well as directs. And "genius" is used to describe anyone who makes a halfway decent film. I'm taking these words back. In reality, a "maverick" should be a button-pusher. It's a filmmaker who is so radical and daring that even high-minded, forward-thinking critics sneer at their work, people like Vincent Gallo or Catherine Breillat. These people are so dangerous that they have trouble making and distributing films. Harmony Korine, director of Mister Lonely (5 screens) is very much a maverick. Korine has pushed many buttons and many envelopes over the years and though I love his work, he's someone I wouldn't want to invite to my house. (He scares me.)

Werner Herzog, director of Encounters at the End of the World (1 screen), is also a maverick (and, incidentally, a buddy of Korine's). His physically dangerous films have probably had insurance companies slamming the door in his face, and his co-workers have included people who might not be fit for polite society. (At the very least, most of them would turn heads.) Some of his actors have reportedly threatened to kill him. It cracks me up that, because Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man was such a hit, Herzog was allowed to make his new film for the Discovery Channel. I'd really love to have been in on that board meeting. Did they really know who they were dealing with? At the same time, Herzog is also an auteur: all of his films have the same roaming curiosity, fearlessly exploring man's tenuous connection to nature, from Aguirre navigating the Amazon looking for El Dorado, to Timothy Treadwell seeking to befriend the bears.

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]]>cinematicalcontemptdario argentoDarioArgentoencounters at the end of the worldEncountersAtTheEndOfTheWorlderrol morrisErrolMorrisfeaturedfilmflight of the red balloonFlightOfTheRedBalloonharmony korineHarmonyKorinehou hsiao hsienHouHsiaoHsienjacques rivetteJacquesRivettejean-luc godardJean-lucGodardmister lonelyMisterLonelymother of tearsMotherOfTearsmoviemy blueberry nightsMyBlueberryNightsstandard operating procedureStandardOperatingProcedurethe duchess of langeaisTheDuchessOfLangeaiswerner herzogWernerHerzogwong kar waiWongKarWaiJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 26 Jun 2008 20:35:00 EST400 Screens, 400 Blows - Wave of New Waveshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/19/400-screens-400-blows-wave-of-new-waves/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/19/400-screens-400-blows-wave-of-new-waves/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/19/400-screens-400-blows-wave-of-new-waves/#commentsFiled under: ,

Four of the most exciting movie stars in the world are currently appearing in two of the least interesting new movies, taking a back seat to less interesting stars. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are master martial artists, Chan with a comedian's touch and Li with an appealing stoic quality. They team up for the first time in The Forbidden Kingdom (105 screens), a movie about a white kid and his attempt to beat up some bullies. Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh team up for the second time in The Children of Huang Shi (43 screens), about a British journalist (not played by Chow) and an Australian nurse (not played by Yeoh) saving some orphans.

Chow had a suave, cool quality that could have turned him into the next James Bond or Cary Grant, and Yeoh is a beautiful martial artist who could have become a groundbreaking feminist action star. It's a sad state of affairs, but I guess these films are the final proof of the cold, dead corpse of the Hong Kong New Wave.

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]]>chow yun fatChowYunFatcinematicalencounters at the end of the worldEncountersAtTheEndOfTheWorldfilmflight of the red balloonFlightOfTheRedBalloonhong kongHongKongjackie chanJackieChanjet liJetLimichelle yeohMichelleYeohmoviemy blueberry nightsMyBlueberryNightsshine a lightShineALightthe duchess of langeaisTheDuchessOfLangeaiswerner herzogWernerHerzogJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 19 Jun 2008 18:01:00 EST400 Screens, 400 Blows - Cross-Culture Clubhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/12/400-screens-400-blows-cross-culture-club/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/12/400-screens-400-blows-cross-culture-club/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/12/400-screens-400-blows-cross-culture-club/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Over the course of my time in this job I have acquired a reputation as someone who reviews and appreciates lots of foreign films. Of course, at the same time I have occasionally been accused of not understanding these films at all, which is partially true. It's not technically possible for one person to fully absorb and comprehend every facet of every industrialized culture in the world. For one thing, subtitles never accurately translate what's being spoken, and then there are little cultural things, certain behaviors, for example, that may not translate either. Conversely, it's impossible for any one person -- filmmakers included -- to represent a culture. It gets even more complex than that, if you want to boil it down. For example, I could say that I identify with the characters in High Fidelity (2000), but if you consider that I've never been to Chicago, and consider further that the book was originally set in London, then it creates a cultural divide. That movie has levels that will forever be out of my grasp.

You do your best. You keep an open mind. Although, I admit I'm usually disappointed when I see too many Western filmmaking elements slavishly copied in Eastern films (Mongol, The Counterfeiters, etc.); it shows the overwhelming influence of Hollywood on other parts of the world. I'm sure more people in Portugal saw Transformers than saw Manoel de Oliveira or Pedro Costa's latest films.

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]]>contemptfeaturedfritz langFritzLangharold and kumar escape from guantanamo bayHaroldAndKumarEscapeFromGuantanamoBayin brugesInBrugesmister lonelyMisterLonelymy blueberry nightsMyBlueberryNightsshutterthe bands visitthe children of huang shithe fallthe flight of the red balloonthe forbidden kingdomTheBandsVisitTheChildrenOfHuangShiTheFallTheFlightOfTheRedBalloonTheForbiddenKingdomJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 12 Jun 2008 19:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Flashback to 1991http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/05/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-flashback-to-1991/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/05/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-flashback-to-1991/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/05/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-flashback-to-1991/#commentsFiled under: ,



June is here, and summer has more or less begun, even if we have to wait until June 21 for the official start date. I'm here in the Bay Area, under a blanket of fog, wearing a sweater (if you saw last year's wonderful Colma: The Musical, you'll get a visual) while everywhere else people are sunbathing and drinking frosty frappuccinos. No matter. I've spent many summers like this and I have my share of fond summer memories even if they happened in the freezing cold rather than the relaxing heat. I was just remembering back to my first summer here. I had a pretty laid-back, part-time job that allowed me to go to as many movies as I wanted. So this week I thought I would do a flashback to the summer of 1991. (Imagine a pre-Tarantino world!) Things started well with the 50th anniversary re-release of Citizen Kane, and although I'd seen it many times before (and since) I got to see it on the big screen for the first time.

Next up came the documentary Truth or Dare. I wasn't a particularly big Madonna fan, but there was one scene that made the movie an event. Warren Beatty (then dating Madonna) turns up in her dressing room and is nonplussed about the intruding cameras: "She doesn't want to live off-camera, much less talk. There's nothing to say off-camera. Why would you say something if it's off-camera? What point is there existing?" Little did we know that those words would come to define our country and culture in the 21st century.


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]]>cinematicalfilmflashback 1991Flashback1991john singletonJohnSingletonmoviepoint breakPointBreakterminator 2Terminator2truth or dareTruthOrDarewarren beattyWarrenBeattyJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 05 Jun 2008 19:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Good Movies, Good Companyhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/29/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-good-movies-good/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/29/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-good-movies-good/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/29/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-good-movies-good/#commentsFiled under: ,



I had a friend once who claimed that there was no point in listening to a record or seeing a movie that was merely good, that to invest the money and time, it should be great. I later caught him listening to -- and enjoying almost to the point of tears -- a CD that would never be described by anyone as great. The point is that sometimes a good movie does wonders for the soul that a great movie could never hope to replicate. Take a look at Iron Man, still on nearly 4000 screens and still raking in the returns. It's well on its way to earning $300 million and shows no signs of stopping there. It's currently the #1 highest grossing film of the year, as well as one of the top rated films at Rotten Tomatoes, with a whopping 93%. I'm one of the movie's fans, but it seems to me that this response is based more on sheer gratitude than anything else. Everyone seems to be simultaneously chiming in: thanks for the good movie!

2008 has been a lousy year for great movies, but I have seen quite a few good ones. The documentary Young@Heart (212 screens), for example, has continued to live in my memory long after I saw it, and long after any of the award-winning Iraq documentaries I've had to sit through. I suspect that it's one of those rare, word-of-mouth docs like March of the Penguins or Grizzly Man that people actually tell their friends about. I don't want to give anything away, but before I saw the movie I didn't care much for the band Coldplay, and now I can't listen to "Fix You" without getting a lump in my throat. The key to this movie is that it looked terrible before I went in, and it turned out to be a huge and happy surprise.

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]]>cinematicalfilmflawlessiron manIronManjunomoviemy blueberry nightsMyBlueberryNightspricelessthe bands visitthe bank jobTheBandsVisitTheBankJobJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 29 May 2008 20:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens 400 Blows - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Spielberghttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/21/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-how-i-learned-to-s/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/21/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-how-i-learned-to-s/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/21/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-how-i-learned-to-s/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Since it's Indiana Jones week, I wanted to do something Indy-themed for my column this week, perhaps something along the line of "Indy indies," but I kept coming back to an idea that has been gnawing at me for some time: a recently re-discovered appreciation for Steven Spielberg, flaws and all. As a kid, I was treated to Spielberg's childlike fantasies, including E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and, to a lesser extent Poltergeist and The Goonies. He, along with George Lucas, seemed to be able to tap directly into the universal fantasies of boys (and some girls, too) everywhere, thereby discovering a gold mine.

But he eventually felt the need to grow up, not because he wanted to, but because he yearned for the acclaim that goes with making more grown-up movies. His first attempt, The Color Purple, was oddly, almost uncomfortably childlike, but he eventually made the leap with Schindler's List. At least three times he has jumped back and forth between childhood and adulthood in a single year: 1993 (Jurassic Park and Schindler's List), 1997 (The Lost World and Amistad) and 2005 (War of the Worlds and Munich). It's only natural, then, that fans and critics began to see this as a kind of betrayal, or worse, inconsistency. Not to mention that his gargantuan success, both financial and critical, tends to breed contempt in others.

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]]>cinematicalfilmindiana jonesindy2008movieraiders of the lost arkRaidersOfTheLostArkJeffrey M. AndersonWed, 21 May 2008 23:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Poultrygeisthttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/15/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-poultrygeist/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/15/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-poultrygeist/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/15/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-poultrygeist/#commentsFiled under: ,



I noticed that Lloyd Kaufman's Poultrygeist (subtitled Night of the Chicken Dead) has finally emerged in theaters (currently playing on 1 screen). Kaufman is the president of Troma, a production company and distributor that has survived as an indie for over 30 years, mainly due to salesmanship. By any count, they have been responsible for at least 150 movies, and Kaufman himself has over 200 on his resume. Anyone who has ever frequented a video store has probably come across titles like Blondes Have More Guns (1995), Cannibal! The Musical (1996), Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (1991), Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part IV (2000) (and, indeed, the entire Toxic Avenger series), Class of Nuke 'Em High (1986), Femme Fontaine: Killer Babe for the C.I.A. (1994), Killer Condom (1996), A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell (1991), Rabid Grannies (1988), Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1991), Surf Nazis Must Die! (1987) and Tromeo and Juliet (1996). They have also distributed such nuggets as Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party (1969), Samuel Fuller's Shark! (1969) and Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome (1996).

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]]>000 B.C.000B.c.10cinematicalfilmfools goldFoolsGoldjerry bruckheimerJerryBruckheimerlloyd kaufmanLloydKaufmanmoviepoultrygeistthe bucket listTheBucketListtromawilliam castleWilliamCastleJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 15 May 2008 19:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Remembering the Shooting Galleryhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/08/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-remembering-the-s/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/08/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-remembering-the-s/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/08/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-remembering-the-s/#commentsFiled under: , ,



A few weeks ago a DVD of Laurent Cantet's 2000 film Human Resources arrived on my doorstep. I hadn't seen it, but it rung a bell for me, and it took me a little while to remember: the Shooting Gallery series! I couldn't believe I had forgotten about it. It was a huge event in less-than-400-screen lore, successful as well as artistically daring. I poked around and discovered that this brave little distributor had -- of course -- gone out of business. In 2000 and 2001, the Shooting Gallery lined up three series of six movies each, releasing each one for a two-week period, usually on a specific movie screen in selected cities, and then replaced it with the next in the series. If something took off and became a hit, it could play longer. I didn't see all the films, but there were some amazing entries, and certainly some films that otherwise would never have seen the light of day.

The first series unfolded in the spring of 2000. The quirky, dreamy, black-and-white comedy Judy Berlin, starring a then up-and-coming Edie Falco ("The Sopranos"), came first. It didn't exactly break any box office records, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has a small following today. Next up came Peter Mullan's Orphans, which I didn't see, followed by Such a Long Journey, which was yet another story from India about an old-fashioned father balking at the ways of his modern children, but beautifully realized. (The great character actor Om Puri was on hand for a supporting role.) Southpaw was a snappy little boxing documentary about promising Irish fighter Francis Barrett. The sixth film, from Japan, was Adrenaline Drive, a kind of crime story crossed with a drawing room comedy. It seemed ripe for an American remake, which never came.


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]]>a time for drunken horsesadrenaline driveAdrenalineDriveATimeForDrunkenHorsesbarenaked in americaBarenakedInAmericacinematicalclive owenCliveOwencroupieredie falcoEdieFalcoeurekafilmhuman resourcesHumanResourcesjudy berlinJudyBerlinlast resortLastResortmike hodgesMikeHodgesmovienon-stopom puriOmPurioneorphansroddy doyleRoddyDoyleroger michellRogerMichellshooting galleryShootingGallerysouthpawsuch a long journeySuchALongJourneythe day i became a womanthe low downTheDayIBecameAWomanTheLowDowntitanic townTitanicTowntoo much sleepTooMuchSleepwhen brendan met trudyWhenBrendanMetTrudyJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 08 May 2008 20:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens 400 Blows - Small Summer Movieshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/03/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-small-summer-movie/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/03/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-small-summer-movie/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/03/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-small-summer-movie/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Iron Man opens this week, and thus the summer movie season has officially arrived. I love a good summer movie as much a the next guy, but this morning I found myself looking back at some of the little films that cropped up during the summer; some of them managed to get a "summer" feel on a much lower budget and without all the advertisement and hype. My absolute favorite summer art house movie has to be Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1999). I saw it three times that summer, and each time I clutched my seat, my heart pounding. I was amazed at how brilliantly Tywker had mapped out his three possible storylines and how lovely the small, quiet interludes were. I loved Franka Potente, and I loved his throbbing score, which practically entered into your bloodstream and pumped up your adrenaline by hand. Every color, movement and cut was designed for maximum effect (I've always been puzzled how Tykwer's movies since have seemed so long and sluggish.)

Also that same summer, John Sayles delivered his baffling adventure/suspense film Limbo, which had several people trapped on an island awaiting rescue and stalked by bad guys. The ending had everybody in an uproar and caused the film to die a quick death. The summer before that one, Darren Aronofsky's debut feature Pi gave me a good dose of sci-fi thrills, as well as a few head-scratching puzzles (which were actually real). 2000 was a particularly bad summer, but John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented provided a mischievous little oasis in the middle of it all. In that film, renegade filmmakers kidnap a Hollywood starlet and force her to be in their indie production; each team member has a tattoo of a maverick filmmaker's name. (I've often wondered which filmmaker's name I would pick for a tattoo? Maybe David Cronenberg...)

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]]>a scanner darklyapocalypse now reduxApocalypseNowReduxart house summer moviesart school confidentialArtHouseSummerMoviesArtSchoolConfidentialAScannerDarklybefore sunsetBeforeSunsetbig trouble in little chinaBigTroubleInLittleChinablack sheepBlackSheepcecil b. dementedCecilB.Dementedcinematicalcode 46Code46DOA dead or aliveDoaDeadOrAliveexiledfilmghost worldGhostWorldhowls moving castleHowlsMovingCastlelagaanlimbomovieopen waterOpenWaterpirescue dawnRescueDawnrun lola runRunLolaRunswimming poolSwimmingPooltalk to meTalkToMetime and tideTimeAndTideJeffrey M. AndersonSat, 03 May 2008 09:32:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Rivettedhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/24/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-rivetted/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/24/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-rivetted/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/24/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-rivetted/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Like a collector of stray dogs, I have likewise assembled my personal canon of misfit filmmakers, artists who have fallen out of fashion or just never caught on. Jacques Rivette, whose new The Duchess of Langeais (6 screens) is currently struggling in art house theaters, is a prime example. According to his bio on the IMDB, he has always nestled in an uncomfortable place between film snobs and film populists. His films are too playful for intellectuals and yet too severe for mainstream consumption. He was a critic at Cahiers du Cinema alongside Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol (some of his writing has been translated to English; I especially love his piece on Howard Hawks and the 1952 film Monkey Business) yet his work does not seem like that of a film buff; it springs more from literature and from his own temperament. Indeed, he's very hard to pin down, perhaps partially because hardly anyone has seen very many of his films. His 12-1/2 hour film Out 1 (1972), which has been called his greatest achievement, has screened in America so few times that probably less than a thousand people have seen it.

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]]>cinematicalfilmjacques rivetteJacquesRivettemoviethe duchess of langeaisTheDuchessOfLangeaisJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 24 Apr 2008 17:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - His Blueberry Nightshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/18/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-his-blueberry-nig/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/18/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-his-blueberry-nig/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/18/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-his-blueberry-nig/#commentsFiled under: ,

(ed. note: This post was accidentally published at 1AM, instead of 1PM, so we're re-publishing it at the correct time.)

I've been thinking about the largely negative response to Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights (6 screens), a film I quite liked. As of today it's at 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, though it opens wider this weekend (including here in the Bay Area) and more reviews are surely coming in. Most critics I've spoken with around here likewise didn't think much of it. What are the reasons for all this disappointment? The main reason has to do with its weight. It's a lightweight movie, a trifle, flimsy, vapid, thin, etc. Wong is considered one of the world's greatest filmmakers, a maker of "weighty" works of art, and so this "lighter" film is beneath him. It's a letdown, a step backward.

Well, I say that's nonsense. Many great filmmakers dallied in lightweight, lesser trifles during their careers, and it didn't make them any less great. Martin Scorsese has made lots of them. After Hours (1985) and The Color of Money (1986) may not pack the punch of Raging Bull, but they are quite enjoyable, and pure Scorsese. (His current Shine a Light, 277 screens, feels like a trifle.) Fritz Lang came to the United States from a position of great power and unlimited resources in Germany and found himself assigned cheap crime pictures. Yet few critics today would complain about the "lightness" of The Big Heat or Scarlet Street. Max Ophuls also made crime films in Hollywood (Caught and The Reckless Moment), and his reputation remains intact. Some consider John Ford the greatest American director of all time, and even though his goofball Donovan's Reef (1963) isn't counted among his classics, I love it just as much. It has moments of great beauty that reflect its maker's personality. My Blueberry Nights may not stand up to In the Mood for Love, but it's unquestionably a Wong Kar-wai film.

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]]>cinematicaldavid strathairnDavidStrathairnfilmfunny gamesFunnyGamesjude lawJudeLawmichael hanekeMichaelHanekemoviemy blueberry nightsMyBlueberryNightsnatalie portmanNataliePortmannorah jonesNorahJonesrachel weiszRachelWeiszthe counterfeitersTheCounterfeiterswong kar waiWongKarWaiJeffrey M. AndersonFri, 18 Apr 2008 13:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens 400 Blows - Psychotronichttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/03/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-psychotronic/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/03/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-psychotronic/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/03/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-psychotronic/#commentsFiled under: ,



Among my favorite film books is Michael J. Weldon's two-volume "Psychotronic" film guide. The first was published in 1983 and the second in 1996 (Michael hopes to publish a third at some point). Unlike Leonard Maltin's annual book, Weldon doesn't update an existing guide; each new guide is an entirely new volume. If you want to read about Halloween, you need Vol. 1 and if you want to read about Halloween 4, you need Vol. 2. A "Psychotronic" movie can be fairly easy to define. It's basically any of the "lower" film genres, dealing with the more questionable elements of society: horror, sci-fi, bikers, strippers, superheroes, zombies, kung-fu, vampires, comic books, drugs, sex, action heroes, rock 'n' roll, midnight movies, monsters, witches, cults, serial killers, magic, time travel, robberies, heists, contract killers, gladiators, Spaghetti Westerns, mad scientists, murder mysteries, pimps, voyeurs, etc.

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]]>4 months 3 weeks and 2 days4Months3WeeksAnd2Daysbe kind rewindBeKindRewindblade runnerBladeRunnerboarding gateBoardingGatecinematicaldiary of the deadDiaryOfTheDeadfilmflawlessfunny gamesFunnyGamesin brugesInBrugesmeet the spartansMeetTheSpartansmichael j. weldonMichaelJ.Weldonmovieno country for old menNoCountryForOldMenparanoid parkParanoidParkpsychotronicstep up 2 the streetsStepUp2TheStreetssummer palaceSummerPalaceteeththe eyethe orphanageTheEyeTheOrphanageu2 3dU23dJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 03 Apr 2008 20:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens 400 Blows - The Smell of Fearhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/27/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-the-smell-of-fear/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/27/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-the-smell-of-fear/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/27/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-the-smell-of-fear/#commentsFiled under: ,

Not many people care to admit it, but Hollywood is run by fear. Fear is an emotion generated by things that are not known or understood, and in the movie business, no one ever knows what's going to happen. (William Goldman was right when he said, "Nobody Knows Anything.") All those accountants, producers, publicists, entertainment TV shows, ad campaigns, etc. are all an attempt to get a handle on the unknown, an attempt to control the uncontrollable. Anything can happen. The world's biggest movie star can jump up and down on a couch and suddenly become a weirdo outcast. Or the star of a dismal turkey like Showgirls can turn around and find herself cast in a Woody Allen film. This fear, in essence, is why so many movies are so bad. The more investors and business people try to control their investment, the more they clamp down on it, and the more it gets smothered.

See, movies can live and breathe like an organic life form, but they have to have a chance. If brave producers step back and let the movie come to life in the hands of a genuine artist, they could wind up with something extraordinary like Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men (229 screens), a film that somehow pleased critics both highbrow and middlebrow, won a handful of Oscars and has nearly grossed $75 million. This film has already entered the cultural canon as a classic of cinema. More or less the same can be said of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (224 screens), which, having lost the Oscar for Best Picture, is now in a position of being an underrated underdog. But those are exceptions to the rule. No one is immune to the fear: a few years back the Coen Brothers teamed up with sleazy producer Brian Grazer, of all people, and came up with their first dud, Intolerable Cruelty.

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]]>27 dresses27Dressesbe kind rewindBeKindRewindcinematicalcloverfieldfilmfunny gamesin brugesInBrugesla vie en roseLaVieEnRosemovieno country for old menrambosnow angelsSnowAngelsthe counterfeitersthe eyethe kite runnerthe year my parents went on vacationTheCounterfeitersTheEyeTheKiteRunnerthere will be bloodThereWillBeBloodTheYearMyParentsWentOnVacationunder the same moonUnderTheSameMoonwilliam goldmanWilliamGoldmanJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 27 Mar 2008 21:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens 400 Blows - Politics as Usualhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/21/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-politics-as-usual/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/21/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-politics-as-usual/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/21/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-politics-as-usual/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Are films political? Do they fall into left-wing and right-wing camps? I would imagine that not all films have an agenda. Some films can be considered "great uniters," in that they bring together agreeing audiences from all over, films like the $200 million hits I Am Legend (264 screens) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (177 screens) or a critical favorite like There Will Be Blood (339 screens) that has pleased nearly everyone who has seen it. Of course, There Will Be Blood is about a snaky, sinister, blustery oil baron willing to sacrifice his family, country and humanity for the allure of black gold, which may or may not have a little something to do with current events. (Not to mention that director Paul Thomas Anderson dropped the word "Oil" from the title of the source novel and replaced it with the word "Blood.")

In recent years it has been determined that film critics are a liberal bunch, educated, well-read men and women of letters, who can see and comprehend the human condition in films from different cultures all over the world. Or, they're sometimes known as pompous, ponderous, pretentious, conceited, snooty know-it-alls, lacking in good old-fashioned horse sense. "Why can't you just enjoy the movie," is a question very often asked of critics. Rambo (201 screens) is a fascinating case. It's impressively violent, but very grim and not much fun. Rambo debuted and reigned during the Reagan era (Rambo: First Blood Part II grossed three times the amount of the new film, even with 1985 ticket prices). Bringing him back in a decidedly different political atmosphere didn't seem to work, though the film was screened for the press and earned a few good reviews. It's now starting a downslide, and it's still shy of breaking even on its $50 million budget.

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]]>atonementbeaufortchicago 10cinematicalfilmi am legendIAmLegendmeet the spartansmovienational treasure book of secretsrambothe counterfeitersthe unforeseenthere will be bloodThereWillBeBloodwitless protectionWitlessProtectionJeffrey M. AndersonFri, 21 Mar 2008 20:02:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Foreign Reformhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/15/jeffrey-m-anderson-400-screens-400-blows-foreign-reform/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/15/jeffrey-m-anderson-400-screens-400-blows-foreign-reform/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/15/jeffrey-m-anderson-400-screens-400-blows-foreign-reform/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Okay. It's time to get down to brass tacks. I'm going to get up on my soapbox and hope that the right Academy members read the column this week, because it's time to re-do the rules of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar category. Do you know how long it has been since a great film, a truly great film, won in this category? I'm talking about a film made by a genuinely great artist of the cinema, a film for the ages, and not just a perfectly good film, or a film about one of the great world wars. Here's your answer: twenty-five years ago. Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1983) was the last great one. That leaves 25 years of pretty good, just OK, forgettable, or flat-out awful winners (mostly forgettable). This year's winner, The Counterfeiters (41 screens) had to be one of the worst movies I saw all year; at it's center is a perfectly good (true) WWII concentration camp story, but it's warped by an entirely inept director, responsible for one of the worst movies I've ever seen, All the Queen's Men (2001). How did it win? How did it get past all the truly great films of 2007?


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]]>4 months 3 weeks and 2 daysakira kurosawabeaufortcinematicalcrouching tiger hidden dragonfanny and alexanderfederico fellinifilmfrancois truffautingmar bergmanjacques tatiluis bunuelmovieoffsideoscar for best foreign language filmpersepolisthe band's visitthe counterfeitersthe diving bell and the butterflythe duchess of langeaisthe orphanageyi yiJeffrey M. AndersonSat, 15 Mar 2008 12:32:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Guilty Thespianshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/06/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-guilty-thespians/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/06/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-guilty-thespians/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/03/06/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-guilty-thespians/#commentsFiled under: ,



Have you ever liked an actor that no one else seems to like? You almost want to keep your adoration to yourself, for fear that you'll be laughed out of a party or a gathering when you say how much you like Josh Hartnett. I actually do like Josh Hartnett, quite a lot. For a pretty boy, he has a very warm screen personality, and though he can appear perfectly comfortable playing a boxer or a cop, he also has a wonderful sense of humor. In short, he's not a brooder or a poser like most of his other pretty boy contemporaries. And yes, he was in Pearl Harbor, but he made up for that with excellent performances in The Virgin Suicides, O, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Hollywood Homicide and The Black Dahlia. Incidentally, these are all under-appreciated or misunderstood movies, just like Josh himself.

There. I've gone on record. Looking down the list of movies currently playing on 400 screens or less, I came up with several other actors I like that have not really received the love they deserve. First up, we have Amy Adams, who I just caught in the new Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. As far as I'm concerned, Amy walks on water. She's like a Carole Lombard for the 21st century. That means that she's not particularly suited for low-key "realistic" roles, such as the one she plays in Charlie Wilson's War (97 screens); in that, she basically trails Tom Hanks and occasionally reads some complicated dialogue to him. (I thought Mike Nichols was supposed to be good with actors.) But in Enchanted (329 screens), Amy is perfectly cast as a slightly cartoonish, screwball kook. She can move her eyes and her entire body in very precise ways for outlandish results, but she still retains a strain of humanity; she never spirals off into anything untouchable or unknowable. I thought she deserved an Oscar nomination for this one, but I'm afraid she'll need to put on a lot of "ugly" makeup before she wins anything.

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]]>amy adamscassandra's dreamcharles s. duttoncharlie wilson's warchicago 10cinematicalcolin farrellenchantedfilmhoneydripperin brugesjosh hartnettmiss pettigrew lives for a dayMissPettigrewLivesForADaymovieroy scheidershannyn sossamonJeffrey M. AndersonThu, 06 Mar 2008 19:32:00 ESTJeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Even the Losers Get Lucky Sometimeshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/02/29/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-even-the-losers-g/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/02/29/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-even-the-losers-g/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/02/29/jeffrey-m-andersons-400-screens-400-blows-even-the-losers-g/#commentsFiled under: ,



Oscar night is over, and everyone is basking in the glow of the winners. Or, excuse me, the "recipients" of the Oscars. Not too many years back, the politically-correct police changed the language from "and the winner is" to "and the Oscar goes to" because that made the losers sound less like losers. It's a joke now when someone says, "It's an honor just to be nominated," but I believe that's true. I think it would be unbelievably cool to be nominated, even if you were in the Best Documentary Short category and the bouncers tried to keep you from entering the theater. This week's column is dedicated to the losers that were honored just to be nominated.

My favorite film of the year, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which is gone from theaters and available on DVD, received two nominations and lost both, which I expected. But this is a film that, like Anthony Mann's The Naked Spur and many other Westerns, will grow in stature despite its lack of Oscars. The year's other big Western, 3:10 to Yuma, also lost its twin nominations, but will probably endure as long as there remains a small, dedicated audience for Western adventures. On the other hand, I find that very few films in the "disease of the week" genre have much life after the Oscars. But The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (161 screens) will be different, for two reasons: 1) it was actually really, very good, and 2) it didn't win anything.

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]]>2007 academy award nominated shortsaugust rushbeaufortcharlie wilson's warcinematicalelizabeth the golden ageenchantedfilmi'm not thereinto the wildmovieno country for old menthe assassination of jesse james by the coward robert fordthe bourne ultimatumthe counterfeitersthe diving bell and the butterflythe kite runnerthe savagesJeffrey M. AndersonFri, 29 Feb 2008 17:02:00 EST