Black Snake Moan

This movie is a solid effort, it is well done and because it is well done I have some problems with it. That is, to make more clearly, that because I actually liked this film I wanted it to be perfect. Easily Christina Ricci's best performance which isn't saying much compared to her other films Love Actually, the opposite of sex and numerous other poor choices and less than stellar performances. She shines in this, or rather radiates a troubled young girl who somehow is still sexy with band aids on her knees and bruises on her face not to mention eyes that make her look like she has been on a year long extacy and morphine bender. Sam Jackson as always does a great job.

Here is where my complaint comes in, why Timberlake? Why not cast someone who we haven't seen much of before for his part? He looks way to pretty to be playing the part he plays and doesn't seem nearly screwed up enough, at least not enough to match Ricci's performance. Also, it is hard to get it out of your head that you are watching an actor and not Justin Timberlake.

The plot is solid, the acting very good, it is obvious the writer/director has talent and is going to produce some good films in the future. He uses slow motion in some interesting ways and knows how the camera should capture the action, he also mixes music well with the action. All in all this film is worth seeing.

Being There

"Being There" is one of those unique films that will stick with you for months and years after you have seen it. Peter Sellers is so good its scary. The commentary in the film is hilarious and the shots outstanding, as a whole the film sparkles with brilliance, it is haunting, funny, thought provoking, entertaining and aesthetically pleasing to watch. It seems as though Ashby wanted to capture a Magritte painting and set it in motion on the screen, he does this and Sellers puts on arguably the performance of his career, how he did not win a best actor is baffling.

Barton Fink

An outstanding achievement by the best American Filmmakers of the nineties. Like most of the Cohen Brothers films, this gets better with repeated viewing. Outstanding shots of peoples expressions, pacing and tempo in conjunction with fantastic acting and an interesting story make this essential viewing for any student of film.

John Tuturro is at his best as Barton Fink, a pretentious writer from New York City who travels to Los Angeles to write for the pictures. The dialogue is quick and witty, the pacing and tempo are constantly switching from long drawn out scenes of relative silence, to people speaking quickly and loudly. The entire film is dreamy, or rather closer to a nightmare. This is one of the best black comedies of the nineties, but then again every film the Cohen brothers made in the nineties is one the best.

A Scanner Darkly (Film Review)

As a huge fan of the work of Philip K. Dick, I am usually disappointed with the film adaptations of his books, aside from Total Recall, It is not entirely because of the attempts by the filmmakers or change in dialog per say, but due to the fact that much of what he writes about is incredibly subjectively visual to the individual reading the story that is difficult to capture on Film the images and ideas expressed so elegantly in his books. For example, The scramble suit was a very interesting concept in the book but was difficult to carry off in the film even with the rotoscoping, overall the film was a very disappointing adaptation and pretentious as a translation from a difficult book to the screen. I have no doubt Linklater tried very hard when making this film and I can't help wondering if the only reason Linklater used the rotoscoping technique was to compensate for the difficulty of creating a scramble suit. The film would have been much stronger if it was not in animation. The animation lent it to seem like a Japanamation, or Anime which puts it more in the realm of fantasy. Keep it real man! this was a story about Dick's real life experience's set in very near future under the mask of "Science Fiction", if anything, it would have been better shot in black and white. Couldn't get into the parts where they were paranoid about the house being surveyed or broken into, or set up. Most of the jokes seemed forced or trying very hard to be funny. Woody Harrelsons character was over the top and uneven, Winona was hot, but other than that pointless, They fail to demonstrate a larger world around them in the context of the individuals drug abuse, that is, we only see four people in a house and they hardly interact with anyone in society, which is alledgedly a society of narc corps and population of 20 percent addicts, They only semi dabble with the actual experience of being on the drug, we don't see them high enough or hallucinating, but then again Johnny Depp and Benicio in "Fear and Loathing" are a high standard to beat. Is Substance D a hallucinogen? speed? downer? we don't know. All in all, worth seeing if you are a PKD fan or a fan of drug films as other people have mentioned on this site, but overall could have been more realized and slightly less pretentious.

I can't help but wonder if a director like Terry Gilliam or David Fincher may have been better suited to direct of dark film of this caliber. Kubrick would have been fantastic!

Annie Hall

This is the quintessential Woody Allen film and defined a generation of people at the time it came out in 1977, many of his later films repeat the same ideas and themes of this one. Great romantic comedy, possibly THE romantic comedy of romantic comedies. The film centers around Allen in his typical nebbishy character, and his romantic involvement with Diane Keaton. Very funny, great 1970's feel, really captures the mood of Manhattan at the time, a time capsule which feels slightly dated but in a fantastic nostalgic way, not in a outdated campy way. Sums ups Allens theory about life pretty well, people in New York don't have to worry about much so they create their own neuroses. A template for what a romantic comedy should be to all those trying to write or make films.

The Trayvon Martin Case

While horrific and terribly sad, the Trayvon Martin case has captured the nations attention unlike anything since the murder of Emmett Till.  While the cases are different, many parallels do exist.  Young African American male visiting someone in the deep south is murdered.  Much of suburban white America wants to believe that racial stereotypes and attitudes don't exist anymore, but anyone who lives in a large city, or the south can tell you they are alive and thriving.  I have heard the argument that "We have a black president now, racism has ended" this is of course ludicrous. The racial stereotypes are deep seeded and have been around for generations, passed down like religion or love for a certain sports team.   In conjunction with the occupy movement, anti-war movement and other social and world wide issues being brought to light, we will see a rise in spotlighting all inequality globally.  This is a product of the 24 hour news cycle, as well as internet and more people having access to more information.  Not since the 1960's with the mass distribution of the television spot lighting the student demonstrations and Democratic convention of 68' have we had such a burst of varying movements and causes.  Our global enlightenment and quest for peace will come directly out of these movements.  While awful and tragic the death of Trayvon Martin is not something new, but hopefully the good that can come out of this senseless tragedy is awareness, and acknowledgement that we still do have problems in this nation and hopefully in the not to distant future we can rise above these problems and evolve.

Factotum

I just finished watching "Factotum" on Netflix and while it was an entertaining film, and Matt Dillon did a good job in conjunction with Lilly Taylor and Marissa Tomei. My only complaint with the film is that the actors were all good looking, this of course detracts and diverges from Bukowski's real life.  He was ugly, he knew he was ugly and that is what made him the person he was in reality.  The other gripe was just as simple as seeing it portrayed in modern times, people these days do not smoke as much as he did and others in the film.