Finishing Up This Project with a Bang!
It's New Year's Eve and my movie blog project is coming to a close. Here are the final films over the past two days. I tried really hard to make it to 400, since I surpassed my goal of 365. What a great trip it's been, watching these films and learning a lot. I found some great, hidden gems, too. I saw some pretty terrible ones, but you know, it's going to happen.
......................................................................
Film 390
"Room 304" (A Danish indie film)
starring: Mikael Birkkjaer, Stine Stengade, David Dencik, Luan Jaha, Lourdes Faberes, Aridna Gil
It's hard to really give a decent synopsis or critique of this Danish film other than to say it was interesting, albeit hard to follow sometimes. I enjoy the story, the suspense, and the intrigue, which is really what a decent movie needs to survive.
It all takes place in a Copenhagan hotel, specifically, all the action takes place in one room- Room 304- which has definitely seen its variety of characters come and go, conduct varied business, etc. All the characters' lives are a bit disparate, to say the least, and they happen to intersect either by accident or by fate.
There's a stewardess desperate for intimacy.
An immigrant desperate for revenge.
A hotel manager lost in despair.
A wife abandoned by her husband (this is probably the most intriguing story).
A receptionist with blood on his hands and a guilty conscious.
As the story unfolds and the characters insect, secrets are revealed and unexpected events occur.
...........................................................................
Film 391
"Diggers"
starring: Paul Rudd, Ken Marino, Ron Eldard, Josh Hamilton, Maura Tierney, Sarah Paulson, Lauren Ambrose
directed by: Katherine Dieckmann
written by: Ken Marino
Ken Marino has certainly come a long way from his sketch comedy troupe on MTV's "The State."
His career resume actually looks pretty great, and I think he's still rather under-appreciated:
The State (93-95)
Men Behaving Badly (97)
First Years (01)
Leap of Faith (02)
"Wet Hot American Summer" film
Dawson's Creek (01-02)
What I Like About You ((04)
"The Baxter" film
"Hoodwinked!" film
"Diggers" film
"The Ten" film
Veronica Mars (05-07)
Reno 911 (a few times)
Reaper (08-09)
Party Down (09-10)
"Wanderlust" film
Burning Love (12-13)
"We're the Millers" film
Children's Hospital (08-13) one of the best Adult Swim shows
Eastbound and Down (13)
Axe Cop (13)
Among lots of guest starring roles in many, many other television shows and small films.
With "Diggers" Ken Marino proves again that he's a great film writer, even with a rather boring look into the lives of Long Island clam diggers, Marino can add a little humor and spice (mostly with his character). It was an interesting subject to broach the idea of mid-life crises and a long-overdue coming-of-age story involving the main character, Hunt (played subduedly well by Paul Rudd, taking a leap into the independent film pond after really breaking through as a mainstream actor).
The film begins rather sullenly with Hunt arriving late and lackadaisically for a day of work out on the bay with his father (both are clam diggers), only to discover that his old man has passed away, alone on his boat. Hunt is very guilt-stricken by this and never really comes to terms with it, until the very end of the film. Maura Tierney plays his younger sister, Gina, who deals with all of her burdening pains (recent divorce, no kids, dead father) in her own way by shacking up with one of her brother's good friends, Jack, who is somewhat of a local Casanova, but in this case, actually treats Gina rather well and it's clear that she's not being taken advantage of.
There's another element to the story as well: the independent business of clam digging, which all these guys are involved in, is slowly (well, no, quickly) dying out thanks to corporate fishery businesses buying up the rights to the prime digging areas along Long Island. This hits particularly hard for Marino's character, Lozo, since he's married with 3 kids (and one more on the way) to Sarah Paulson's character. (Side note: I recently watched Sarah Paulson in the first season of American Horror Story where she had a small role, but then really took off with her starring role in the second season. I love her acting, and here she doesn't disappoint even in a bit role.)
Hunt (Rudd) finds a little bit of distraction by taking up in a summer romance/fleeting episode with a New York City hipster-type girl, played by Lauren Ambrose (who is really wasted here, unfortunately). This is about the only piece of the story that I couldn't get on board with, because Ambrose is not really meant to be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl and this is clearly Marino's attempt at that.
I like that it took place in the '70s and the dudes mustaches were fantastic. Altogether this was a decent indie film, even if it was a bit depressing.
.....................................................................
Film 392
"Broken English"
starring: Parker Posey, Drea de Matteo, Tim Guinee, Gena Rowlands, Peter Bogdanovich, Roy Thinnes, Michael Panes, Justin Theroux, Melvil Poupaud
written and directed by: Zoe R. Cassavettes (Gena Rowlands' daughter)
Zoe Cassavettes was written and directed a great character study of a young-ish woman who falls in love a bit too easily and unguardedly for her own good. She's a woman who trusts easily untrustworthy men, who end up hurting her, but who's fault is it really.
Then at a party she meets Julien (Melvil Poupaud), a French guy who seems too good to be true. Maybe that's where the story breaks down, if only because he is too good to be true. It's like he went to a feminist training academy, to learn how to treat a woman with gentleness, warmth and perfect sexual tact. He has to return to Paris. She says she will join him there. And so, the question becomes, since the film still has a length of time to fill, will she go to Paris or won't she? Well, of course, she goes, but it doesn't go as smoothly as one being a romantic like myself would hope for. In fact, if everything went well right from the beginning, the film would have felt more like another version of "Before Sunrise," which clearly Zoe Cassavettes is above doing, talent-wise (I mean, look at the family she's in). I won't spoil things for you, once she gets to Paris, because I think this is definitely a film worth your time.
Add in, her best friend, Audrey (played by Drea de Matteo, who's come a long way since her role on "The Sopranos," but still can't find her way out of the shadows of supporting roles), who is having her own mental crisis as a newlywed who flirts with disaster when she goes to Paris with Nora.
This is a great, indie film from a great writer/director who's intrigued me to see more of her stuff, but I think having Parker Posey in just about any film, is going to make it a great film. She's just a great actress who knows how and when to turn it on.
......................................................................
Film 393
"Boarding Gate"
starring: Asia Argento, Michael Madsen, Kelly Kin, and (surprisingly) Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth)
written and directed by: Olivier Assayas
There is clearly only one real reason to see this train-wreck of a film:
Asia Aregento!
And oh boy, she does not disappoint. This film is definitely another vehicle for Asia to show off her incredible, tattoed body, as well as her undeniable sexuality. She's tough as nails, but damn sexy. She's like the Italian answer to Angelina Jolie. She's an authentic daughter of darkness, since her father is Italian horror auteur Dario Argento, and man, did he raise his daughter well. She owns the wreckage that is "Boarding Gate," thanks in large part to her ability to parade through one intense scene in stiletto heels and black bra and matching panties, showing off her tattoos and brandishing a Luger.
Argento's Sandra—a Paris-based ex-hooker, erstwhile industrial spy, freelance drug dealer, the one-time mistress of her own sci-fi website, and an eventual hit lady—is introduced with her back to the camera and hair piled up, the better to display the "23" tattooed on the nape of her neck. Sandra's former lover, the capitalist swine Miles (Michael Madsen), wants out of his import-export racket and, newly divorced, would like Sandra back in his life. In one of the movie's sexiest scenes, the pair has a conversation on who used to get off on what, during the course of which Sandra, being Argento, parks the finger of her left hand in her mouth while idly exploring her crotch with the right.
Sandra, it seems, is so totally over Miles that she taunts him with a description she found in an online business journal: He's "the perfect cliché of bygone times." Anyway, the stray cat has found a new boyfriend, a more successfully swinish import-export mogul named Lester (Carl Ng), and even holds a day job, running Lester's warehouse with his scarily cool wife (Hong Kong star Kelly Lin). But Sandra has big dreams: She's moving dope on the side, planning to buy herself a little nightclub in Beijing. When a deal goes seriously wrong, she's compelled to return to sodden Miles, hoping for a million-dollar handout.
Absurd as it sounds, it does allow Sandra and Miles to trip once more down memory lane. "You kept the handcuffs?" Argento whimpers in her scratchy little voice, waiting two beats to add: "I hate them, they hurt." (As an actress, Argento's line readings—typically mumbled in a toneless sultry whine—have a near-Brando eccentricity.) Thanks to Madsen's volatility and menacing bulk, a constant threat of violence darkens the scene. This time, the tryst goes way, way over the top. Suffice to say that Sandra is compelled to assume the identity of her online alter-ego, the super-heroine Vortex, and is effectively catapulted, alone and endangered, into the mad maze of Hong Kong.
Asia Argento is is superb actress who can easily thread the needle between seductress and downright badass. You want her, but at the same time, your afraid of how she'd handle you, if given the chance.
................................................................
Film 394
"The Devil's Double"
starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier
"The Devil's Double" can be quite a Hollywood embellishment of a memoir written by the man who was taken from his own typical, stale life in Iraq in order to fulfill orders as Uday Hussein's double.
The question here is what's the point of all this. We all know the history (like the end titles tell us). Uday Hussein was an awful, sadistic human being. So, why do we have to watch the film that basically glorifies him while at the same time villain-izes him (in English, nonetheless).
The devil in this story is Uday Hussein, the notoriously decadent and monstrous elder son of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein. The story’s double is Latif Yahia, a valorous Iraqi soldier whose recently published memoir about his experiences serving as Uday’s body double provides the source material for this film. Dominic Cooper plays both roles. His performance would have been a tour de force had there only been authentic characters here to play. Unfortunately, both Uday and Latif are one-note characterizations, though Cooper does wonders with the material he’s been given to work with.
There's no story arc for such a madman. It starts out full tilt and just doesn't stop. He's an unbridled maniac who desires women, various forms of torture, and expensive, nice things.
"The Devil's Double" can only offer the viewer a one-track ride through the hell it must have been to live in the Hussein regime Iraq. Fearing for your life every single day. And forget about it, if you happened to be a woman. The scenes with all the interactions between Uday and "his" women is just awful and gut-wrenching to watch. I actually kind of despised myself for watching the entire film because I felt guilty in a bizarre way.
Do not put yourself through it, because I already did.
__________________________________________________________________
AND HERE ENDTH THE LESSON.
(But I will continue to write up movie reviews because I just enjoy writing and watching films. There's so many more I want/have to see.)
Up next, I'll be making a list of my favorites from the entire year!
My next blog project is going to focus on fitness (even though I'm in good health and exercise regularly) because that's another part of my life I enjoy and want to share with everyone.
......................................................................
Film 390
"Room 304" (A Danish indie film)
starring: Mikael Birkkjaer, Stine Stengade, David Dencik, Luan Jaha, Lourdes Faberes, Aridna Gil
It's hard to really give a decent synopsis or critique of this Danish film other than to say it was interesting, albeit hard to follow sometimes. I enjoy the story, the suspense, and the intrigue, which is really what a decent movie needs to survive.
It all takes place in a Copenhagan hotel, specifically, all the action takes place in one room- Room 304- which has definitely seen its variety of characters come and go, conduct varied business, etc. All the characters' lives are a bit disparate, to say the least, and they happen to intersect either by accident or by fate.
There's a stewardess desperate for intimacy.
An immigrant desperate for revenge.
A hotel manager lost in despair.
A wife abandoned by her husband (this is probably the most intriguing story).
A receptionist with blood on his hands and a guilty conscious.
As the story unfolds and the characters insect, secrets are revealed and unexpected events occur.
...........................................................................
Film 391
"Diggers"
starring: Paul Rudd, Ken Marino, Ron Eldard, Josh Hamilton, Maura Tierney, Sarah Paulson, Lauren Ambrose
directed by: Katherine Dieckmann
written by: Ken Marino
Ken Marino has certainly come a long way from his sketch comedy troupe on MTV's "The State."
His career resume actually looks pretty great, and I think he's still rather under-appreciated:
The State (93-95)
Men Behaving Badly (97)
First Years (01)
Leap of Faith (02)
"Wet Hot American Summer" film
Dawson's Creek (01-02)
What I Like About You ((04)
"The Baxter" film
"Hoodwinked!" film
"Diggers" film
"The Ten" film
Veronica Mars (05-07)
Reno 911 (a few times)
Reaper (08-09)
Party Down (09-10)
"Wanderlust" film
Burning Love (12-13)
"We're the Millers" film
Children's Hospital (08-13) one of the best Adult Swim shows
Eastbound and Down (13)
Axe Cop (13)
Among lots of guest starring roles in many, many other television shows and small films.
With "Diggers" Ken Marino proves again that he's a great film writer, even with a rather boring look into the lives of Long Island clam diggers, Marino can add a little humor and spice (mostly with his character). It was an interesting subject to broach the idea of mid-life crises and a long-overdue coming-of-age story involving the main character, Hunt (played subduedly well by Paul Rudd, taking a leap into the independent film pond after really breaking through as a mainstream actor).
The film begins rather sullenly with Hunt arriving late and lackadaisically for a day of work out on the bay with his father (both are clam diggers), only to discover that his old man has passed away, alone on his boat. Hunt is very guilt-stricken by this and never really comes to terms with it, until the very end of the film. Maura Tierney plays his younger sister, Gina, who deals with all of her burdening pains (recent divorce, no kids, dead father) in her own way by shacking up with one of her brother's good friends, Jack, who is somewhat of a local Casanova, but in this case, actually treats Gina rather well and it's clear that she's not being taken advantage of.
There's another element to the story as well: the independent business of clam digging, which all these guys are involved in, is slowly (well, no, quickly) dying out thanks to corporate fishery businesses buying up the rights to the prime digging areas along Long Island. This hits particularly hard for Marino's character, Lozo, since he's married with 3 kids (and one more on the way) to Sarah Paulson's character. (Side note: I recently watched Sarah Paulson in the first season of American Horror Story where she had a small role, but then really took off with her starring role in the second season. I love her acting, and here she doesn't disappoint even in a bit role.)
Hunt (Rudd) finds a little bit of distraction by taking up in a summer romance/fleeting episode with a New York City hipster-type girl, played by Lauren Ambrose (who is really wasted here, unfortunately). This is about the only piece of the story that I couldn't get on board with, because Ambrose is not really meant to be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl and this is clearly Marino's attempt at that.
I like that it took place in the '70s and the dudes mustaches were fantastic. Altogether this was a decent indie film, even if it was a bit depressing.
.....................................................................
Film 392
"Broken English"
starring: Parker Posey, Drea de Matteo, Tim Guinee, Gena Rowlands, Peter Bogdanovich, Roy Thinnes, Michael Panes, Justin Theroux, Melvil Poupaud
written and directed by: Zoe R. Cassavettes (Gena Rowlands' daughter)
This indie film has probably one of the best, most perfect opening sequences I've seen on film. First shot, a closeup: Parker Posey. Next shots, mostly closeups. She smokes, she regards her face in the mirror, she does her hair and gets ready to go to work. She captures perfectly that way women have of arming themselves against the merciless scrutiny of the world. Does any woman, looking in the mirror, think of herself as beautiful? I don't really know, because I'm a guy; and it takes me about 5 minutes to get ready for just about anything. But, I do understand the need to sometimes arm/shield yourself against the scrutiny of the world and its many mean people.
Posey stands poised between serene beauty and throwing a shampoo bottle at the mirror. She always looks great, and she always seems dubious and insecure. She can make half her mouth curl into a reluctant smile. But when she fully smiles, she's radiant. She is well cast for "Broken English," because her character, Nora Wilder, needs precisely that in-between quality. She is an under-appreciated beautiful actress with loads of talent to back it all up.
Zoe Cassavettes was written and directed a great character study of a young-ish woman who falls in love a bit too easily and unguardedly for her own good. She's a woman who trusts easily untrustworthy men, who end up hurting her, but who's fault is it really.
Then at a party she meets Julien (Melvil Poupaud), a French guy who seems too good to be true. Maybe that's where the story breaks down, if only because he is too good to be true. It's like he went to a feminist training academy, to learn how to treat a woman with gentleness, warmth and perfect sexual tact. He has to return to Paris. She says she will join him there. And so, the question becomes, since the film still has a length of time to fill, will she go to Paris or won't she? Well, of course, she goes, but it doesn't go as smoothly as one being a romantic like myself would hope for. In fact, if everything went well right from the beginning, the film would have felt more like another version of "Before Sunrise," which clearly Zoe Cassavettes is above doing, talent-wise (I mean, look at the family she's in). I won't spoil things for you, once she gets to Paris, because I think this is definitely a film worth your time.
Add in, her best friend, Audrey (played by Drea de Matteo, who's come a long way since her role on "The Sopranos," but still can't find her way out of the shadows of supporting roles), who is having her own mental crisis as a newlywed who flirts with disaster when she goes to Paris with Nora.
This is a great, indie film from a great writer/director who's intrigued me to see more of her stuff, but I think having Parker Posey in just about any film, is going to make it a great film. She's just a great actress who knows how and when to turn it on.
......................................................................
Film 393
"Boarding Gate"
starring: Asia Argento, Michael Madsen, Kelly Kin, and (surprisingly) Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth)
written and directed by: Olivier Assayas
There is clearly only one real reason to see this train-wreck of a film:
Asia Aregento!
And oh boy, she does not disappoint. This film is definitely another vehicle for Asia to show off her incredible, tattoed body, as well as her undeniable sexuality. She's tough as nails, but damn sexy. She's like the Italian answer to Angelina Jolie. She's an authentic daughter of darkness, since her father is Italian horror auteur Dario Argento, and man, did he raise his daughter well. She owns the wreckage that is "Boarding Gate," thanks in large part to her ability to parade through one intense scene in stiletto heels and black bra and matching panties, showing off her tattoos and brandishing a Luger.
Argento's Sandra—a Paris-based ex-hooker, erstwhile industrial spy, freelance drug dealer, the one-time mistress of her own sci-fi website, and an eventual hit lady—is introduced with her back to the camera and hair piled up, the better to display the "23" tattooed on the nape of her neck. Sandra's former lover, the capitalist swine Miles (Michael Madsen), wants out of his import-export racket and, newly divorced, would like Sandra back in his life. In one of the movie's sexiest scenes, the pair has a conversation on who used to get off on what, during the course of which Sandra, being Argento, parks the finger of her left hand in her mouth while idly exploring her crotch with the right.
Sandra, it seems, is so totally over Miles that she taunts him with a description she found in an online business journal: He's "the perfect cliché of bygone times." Anyway, the stray cat has found a new boyfriend, a more successfully swinish import-export mogul named Lester (Carl Ng), and even holds a day job, running Lester's warehouse with his scarily cool wife (Hong Kong star Kelly Lin). But Sandra has big dreams: She's moving dope on the side, planning to buy herself a little nightclub in Beijing. When a deal goes seriously wrong, she's compelled to return to sodden Miles, hoping for a million-dollar handout.
Absurd as it sounds, it does allow Sandra and Miles to trip once more down memory lane. "You kept the handcuffs?" Argento whimpers in her scratchy little voice, waiting two beats to add: "I hate them, they hurt." (As an actress, Argento's line readings—typically mumbled in a toneless sultry whine—have a near-Brando eccentricity.) Thanks to Madsen's volatility and menacing bulk, a constant threat of violence darkens the scene. This time, the tryst goes way, way over the top. Suffice to say that Sandra is compelled to assume the identity of her online alter-ego, the super-heroine Vortex, and is effectively catapulted, alone and endangered, into the mad maze of Hong Kong.
Asia Argento is is superb actress who can easily thread the needle between seductress and downright badass. You want her, but at the same time, your afraid of how she'd handle you, if given the chance.
................................................................
Film 394
"The Devil's Double"
starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier
"The Devil's Double" can be quite a Hollywood embellishment of a memoir written by the man who was taken from his own typical, stale life in Iraq in order to fulfill orders as Uday Hussein's double.
The question here is what's the point of all this. We all know the history (like the end titles tell us). Uday Hussein was an awful, sadistic human being. So, why do we have to watch the film that basically glorifies him while at the same time villain-izes him (in English, nonetheless).
The devil in this story is Uday Hussein, the notoriously decadent and monstrous elder son of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein. The story’s double is Latif Yahia, a valorous Iraqi soldier whose recently published memoir about his experiences serving as Uday’s body double provides the source material for this film. Dominic Cooper plays both roles. His performance would have been a tour de force had there only been authentic characters here to play. Unfortunately, both Uday and Latif are one-note characterizations, though Cooper does wonders with the material he’s been given to work with.
There's no story arc for such a madman. It starts out full tilt and just doesn't stop. He's an unbridled maniac who desires women, various forms of torture, and expensive, nice things.
"The Devil's Double" can only offer the viewer a one-track ride through the hell it must have been to live in the Hussein regime Iraq. Fearing for your life every single day. And forget about it, if you happened to be a woman. The scenes with all the interactions between Uday and "his" women is just awful and gut-wrenching to watch. I actually kind of despised myself for watching the entire film because I felt guilty in a bizarre way.
Do not put yourself through it, because I already did.
__________________________________________________________________
AND HERE ENDTH THE LESSON.
(But I will continue to write up movie reviews because I just enjoy writing and watching films. There's so many more I want/have to see.)
Up next, I'll be making a list of my favorites from the entire year!
My next blog project is going to focus on fitness (even though I'm in good health and exercise regularly) because that's another part of my life I enjoy and want to share with everyone.
Comments
Post a Comment