Upcoming Films...

• Babel: Innaritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams)
• Volver: Almodovar (All About My Mother, Talk To Her, Women on the Verge...)
• The Fountain: Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, Pi)
• Apocalypto: Gibson

 

 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 2005  [ B - ]

 

Quirky, modern detective film starring Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. that features some of the best dialogue in years. Downey's speech describing how all the messed up girls in America end up in LA is priceless as is this exchange when Downey accidentally shoots somebody:

 

Downey: There was an eight percent chance.

 

Kilmer: Eight? Who taught you math?

Beautiful women... dark humor... witty banter... what more could you want from a film? This one could grow on you after a couple viewings.

 

 

V for Vendetta, 2006  [ A - ]

 

As Caryn said when the credits started to roll, "How come this film hasn't been banned?" Taking many of the same themes found in The Matrix but stripping away the sci-fi facade, the Wachowski brothers have created the most politically rebellious film since Fincher's Fight Club. I can't say for sure if I will enjoy Vendetta as much as those two favorites on future viewings but I sure felt that same excitement the first time and am still buzzing from it as I type this.

 

 

The Squid and the Whale, 2005  [ C + ]

 

A dark comedy about divorce featuring an amazing performance from one of my favorites, Jeff Daniels, as the father on a downward spiral. The most unique thing about the film is how the kids take sides in the battle, with the older son idolizing the father and the younger son sticking up for mom.

 

 

Good Night & Good Luck, 2005  [ C - ]

 

Hate to say it, but I was bored by this (although Strathairn is terrific as Murrow). My favorite film about this era is still The Front, with Woody Allen passing off the work of blacklisted writers as his own and Zero Mostel as the tragic clown.

 

 

Crash, 2005  [ C - ]

 

Wannabe Altman (see Short Cuts for how an intertwined story of Los Angelenos is supposed to be done) or Sayles (see City of Hope for more of a racial/political take). Heck, even Kasdan's Grand Canyon was better.

 

 

Match Point, 2005 [ B - ]

 

First, the setup: I'm a huge Woody Allen fan who feels his last great film was 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors. There were a couple of interesting films after that but it quickly became a chore to sit through one of his films and I basically gave up on the Wood-man after Celebrity. A small buzz started brewing for Match Point over the holidays but I didn't really trust it even as I was buying my ticket.

 

But it's true. This is a really good film. It may even be great but I'm hedging my bets with the minus just in case my enthusiasm is coming more from the relief that it didn't suck. I don't want to give anything away because the best part is watching how the strings are pulled and the twists and the turns. I will tell you this, there is hardly a laugh to be had in the entire movie. Unless, of course, you have an extremely dark sense of humor.

 

 

The Family Stone, 2005 [ C ]

 

Definitely not the wacky farce they are trying to sell in those ads, but that might be a good thing as there are some very emotional moments in this story about a tight-knit family resisting the girlfriend visiting for the holidays. I usually detest films that use an illness to squeeze out the tears but since this one involves one of my favorite actresses of all-time, the great Diane Keaton, I'm going to let it slide. There's an especially painful then touching dinner scene when Keaton has to force Sarah Jessica Parker to shut her trap and then use sign language to reassure one of her sons. The film is similar in tone and style to the preferable Once Around, but only for the fact that the couplings in Family Stone just don't feel right no matter how many ways they mix 'em up. 

 

 

The Man Who Would Be King, 1975  [ B ]

 

This has always been near the top of the list of films I should have seen but never got around to it, so I have to thank Kerry Kusiak for reminding me to put it at the top of the Netflix queue because it is even better than I had heard. Sean Connery and Michael Caine have rarely been better and they make an outstanding team of rapscallions with a plan to venture into the wilds of India, dupe the natives into following them into battle, take over more tribes, and somehow come away with a fortune. Their plan works beautifully until the point that Connery ignores one of their rules and director John Huston matches the ending of his Treasures of the Sierra Madre. Just a ripping good yarn, as they used to say back in the day.