Collapse (film review)

As a fan of Chris Smith the director of "Collapse" earlier work like "Home Movie" and "American Movie" I eagerly anticipated this 2009 documentary.  The film is well done, almost in Errol Morris style with a haunting score, and random clips played while the interviewee speaks.  Micheal Ruppert the subject of the film, has a long history of whistle blowing dating back to the 1980's.  He speaks in a style that is a combination of a conspiracy theorist and a professor but with a wealth of facts and knowledge.  Overall, his theories are intriguing about peak oil, and quite possibly he is right about what he says, however I disagree with his doom and gloom prophecies, I believe that necessity is the mother of invention.  With a combination of wind, solar, recycling and resourcefulness from local farming our species can avert the impeding depletion of the worlds remaining oil reserves assuming they are indeed running out.  He negates part of his own argument by referencing Cuba and how they turned to local farming and now are producing the best organic food they have had in years.  I do agree with him that our current industrial model of food production is completely wasteful and unsustainable.  Overall, a captivating film and worth watching.

Slacker (film review)

Oh college, good times.  Oh the early nineties, the pseudo intellectual college conversations with some small nuggets of wisdom here and there.  "Slacker" watching this film, 21 years after it came out it is clear how important this movie is now, was then in many ways.  The first is everyone in the film is much skinnier than people are today, no one is distracted by "Facebook" or "Twitter" on their phones while in a bar or coffee shop together.  People seem much more engaged in each others pseudo-intellectual conversations than they are today.  This film is a time capsule, in retrospect a more innocent time, a more peaceful and calmer time for America.   In many ways this movie was one of the first, if not the first to kick off the 90's independent movie renaissance, which only years later after "Pulp Fiction" became bought out by the Wienstiens.  This was before YouTube, before people could pick up a camera and make a movie but in many ways foreshadowed what was to come.  "Slacker" showed that good dialogue, a small budget and some creativity can produce an interesting, intriguing and fun film.  Cheers to Richard Linklater.

The Long Goodbye (film review)

Easily one of Altman's best films and an early precursor to other films later in the decade by the director. The Long Goodbye is a fine transition in style to Altmans later films like "Nashville" and "A Wedding" Elliot Gould does an outstanding job portraying the outre detective Phillip Marlowe, using his mumbling, bumbling, smart ass speaking style, as a technique to keep the film under the illusion that everything is in motion, like the ocean waves in the film, Marlowe speaks in a sort of beatnik type "Daddy-O" style combined with a smooth talking private eye, and the result works perfectly. The film works like it is timed by a metronome, it rolls along, seamlessly in a way that only Altman can achieve, and like the rhythm of the waves and Marlowe's speech, the camera is constantly in motion as well. The roving camera does an excellent job of allowing the viewer to feel as though they are witnessing more action than actually exists on screen.

Wade (Sterling Hayden) is a fantastic Hemingway-esque writer in the film. Hayden's size and booming voice, in conjunction with his alcoholism and potential brutality, lend an aroma of unpredictableness to his character. Wade's beautiful wife, who has a mysterious bruise on her face, is like a timid, loyal animal, subjected to the whims of her over bearing master. Henry Gibson, who plays Wade's doctor, is excellent as a sort of despotic mouse, who frightens an elephant into conforming to his will, this irony is one of the films intriguing, bizarre twists.

This film works well as a character study, and is one of the best films of the seventies. A must see for every student of film. 9/10

The Hangover (film review)

Like "Sex and the city" last summer was a film for women who acted stupid and vulgar, who dredged up the most moronic and insipid aspects of American culture, this is it's spiritual twin, the movie of the summer, the comedy that will make 300 million dollars, that morons will be quoting over and over even though the lines were not clever or quotable. The film is one five minute joke stretched out for what seems to be an eternity. I saw this today and spent 20 bucks including food on this piece of garbage, two hours of my life gone forever, if only I was as lucky as the characters in the film and could have forgotten the entire thing, what happens when you see the hangover stays with the hangover, that would be great. I actually left the theater hoping I didn't see anyone I knew as I was walking out because I was so embarrassed to have sat through the entire film. All in all this movie was no where near as good as the book, boring as hell, lame, stupid, embarrassing. It will make 300 million dollars this summer.

The Darjeeling Limited

As many people who have written comments on this film have said, I do believe that Wes Anderson is one of the most most important American filmmakers of his generation, however, not many other decent filmmakers exist in his generation. Obviously, he is better than Brett Ratner, or Micheal Bay, but compared to the generation before of Kubrick, Sydney Pollack and Roman Polanki (I realize he is from Poland) Anderson has a lot to live up to if he wants to be on the level of the big boys. That being said, Darjeerling Limited is a precious film which in theory is a great concept. Three emotionally damaged brothers from the leisure class exploring a land rife with spirituality, on a train together forced to cohabitat in close quarters while seeking "bonding" and "spiritual enlightenment", however, something is inherently contrived from the beginning. The opening short is somewhat pretentious in its attempt to become mysterious. Not without its charm, the hotel room is great, with its yellow and red interiors and Natalie Portman is gorgeous with short hair and grey overcoat, Wes Andersons true calling may be interior design because he dresses such pretty sets, but anyway, the film is clever without being laugh out loud funny and interesting for those like myself who have never been to India. The film does have its charm in that we have three lost souls drifting in a sea of loneliness all cramped together while speeding to some unknown and far off location. The problem is, we have seen Anderson do this before. I understand he is at the point now that he can pick and choose and continue to remake the same film, if he really wants to become a Kubrick, Polanski or Bunuel, he must make something different and show that he is more than a talented interior designer with a Beck like knowledge of film and the ability to cut and paste in order to build elaborate collages. Lets see him do a Horror film for starters, what made Kubrick great is that he could do comedy, horror, drama, period pieces, he was constantly pushing the envelope like any true artist yearns to do.

The Changeling (film review)

The first time I saw this film, I was about four years old. I'm not sure if I have slept right since, I am now twenty four and it still haunts me.

The tale of a lonely musician, who loses his wife and daughter in a terrible accident, and then decides to rent an old mansion in the pacific norhtwest, only to find the house has a history of it's own. The film is paced well, set perfectly, and reveals a darker side of the bourgeouis than most are willing to explore. A masterpiece.

The Cable Guy (film review)

When I saw this film for the first time in the theater in 1996 it was shortly after Ace Ventura had come out and a bit after Carey had left "In Living Color" what I was expecting was a screwball comedy, what I got was a dark cinematic masterpiece that I didn't appreciate until two years later when a friend insisted I watch it again. Jim Carey in this film demonstrates that he is a genius. One of the most talented, best acted, comedic performances of all time, no joke. This film is brilliantly written, not a bad note, skillfully directed and coupled with outstanding acting from Jim Carey this becomes one of those rare cinematic gems that like a fine French wine or Farrah Fawcet gets better with age, as time goes by this film gets better and better with each passing year and can only truly be appreciated with repeated viewings.