Out of the Past: The Week in Film

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. The Advocate (1993) Dir. Leslie Megahey - UK
2. The Running Man (1987) Dir. Paul Michael Glaser – US
3. Sundown (1941) Dir. Henry Hathaway - US

Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. Perfect Stranger (2007) Dir. James Foley - US

Astounding Cinema:
6. She Hate Me (2004) Dir. Spike Lee – US
5. Bamboozled (2000) Dir. Spike Lee – US
4. September (1987) Dir. Woody Allen – US
3. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Dir. Alfred Hitchcock - US
2. Manhattan (1979) Dir. Woody Allen - US
1. Boyz N the Hood (1991) Dir. John Singleton - US

Rewatched Goodies:
1. Inside Man (2006) Dir. Spike Lee – US 10/10
2. The Witches of Eastwick (1987) Dir. George Miller – US 8/10

Theatrical Screenings:
2. The Book of Eli (2010) Dir. Hughes Bros. – US 5/10
1. The Lovely Bones (2009) Dir. Peter Jackson – US 9/10

The Advocate (1993): So, when I tell you this title was released as The Hour of the Pig (no, not the Ann Coulter story) in Great Britain I’m most succinctly summing up the quality of this puzzling and insipid celluloid. Set in 1452, the film supposedly sets about to educate us on how animals were held accountable for the same rules and laws as humans, and, subsequently, were forced to under go a courtroom process alongside humans. What does every accused being need? A lawyer of the courts, of course! Colin Firth stars as a ‘city’ lawyer that moves to a small village naively assuming he can make a bigger impact there. Instead he falls in love with a gypsy woman whose pig is on trial for murdering a young Jewish boy. What can I say about a film that’s got not a leg to stand on (and would be called “The Lawyer” if set in modern times)? It’s dreary, dull, and oh, it’s set in 1452 France---except that stars like Colin Firth, Ian Holm and Donald Pleasance aren’t French, so why don’t they drop the damned “Monsieur” they all seem uncomfortable saying? This film is about as tasteless and interesting as watching pigs have sex. Would you be surprised to know that this was director Leslie Megahey’s only theatrical film and that he hasn’t made a film since?

The Running Man (1987): I never read the Stephen King (excuse me, Richard Bachman) novel this was based on and after seeing the film, I probably never will. Paul Michael Glaser (yes, the Starsky of “Starsky & Hutch”) directs this boring, boring, boring tale set in the year 2019, in which convicted felons are forced to survive a public execution game show whose host is famously played by Richard Dawson (“Family Feud,” and “Hogan’s Heroes”). Arnold Schwarzeneggar is our wrongly accused dullard protagonist and Maria Conchita Alonso stars as his love interest, though the only moment on screen the couple share being involved in anything other than trying to live is at the very end. Jim Brown and Jesse Ventura pop up in entertaining little roles, but altogether, this film had difficulty keeping my attention.

Sundown (1941): Henry Hathaway is a more than capable director, (helming some of my personal faves, like Niagra, 1953 and The Dark Corner, 1946) and his main stars are more than capable players, like George Sanders and Gene Tierney (Bruce Cabot is a little dull for me, however). Yet this WWII drama about the British in Kenya (apparently protecting it from the Nazis but mostly telling the natives what to do and not do) sinks like a lead balloon. Tierney is really the only point of interest, claiming to be a half breed Arab woman named Zia that runs a network system between tribes in the desert. But that grows old fast. Sundown (so named after a traditional saying I didn’t quite catch) is also notable for a very brief appearance by Dorothy Dandrige. But beware, she doesn’t get to speak any lines. She only gets to be a Kenyan princess that smiles pretty while a British general decides what black man gets to marry her. Bleh.

Perfect Stranger (2007): While this isn’t really a piece of cinema worth championing, I would like to note that the Halle Berry/Bruce Willis thriller Perfect Stranger is a perfect little piece of escapist fare. Sure, it’s a bit contrived, sure there’s way too many flashback sequences to hand revelations to you on a silver platter, sure there’s one plot twist too many. But that doesn’t make it a bad film. The three leads, Berry, Willis, and the underrated Giovanni Ribisi are all quite entertaining in their respective parts, though it gets a little tiring (and seems a little 1995) to have Berry enter internet chat rooms and read to us what’s being written to her and vocalizing what she’s about to write. Director James Foley is responsible for some cinematic greats (Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992), some middle of the road features (Fear, 1996, Confidence, 2003) and then some drek like Who’s That Girl (1987) and The Chamber (1996). While Perfect Stranger may not be a cinematic great, it’s got some nifty little Hitchcockian moments (and I like how your perception of the title changes throughout the narrative). Basically, an investigative journalist creates an alter ego to seduce and deduce if her murdered friend’s lover, a powerful businessman, was responsible for the murder. Attempting to tie things together a little too completely, you might just forgive it and realize that it’s the perfect guilty pleasure movie and unfairly deserved the drubbing it received upon release. And Halle Berry looks gorgeous.

She Hate Me (2004): Notoriously maligned upon release, I have to agree with Roger Ebert’s review of the film that Spike Lee knows exactly what he was doing when he made this film the way he did. Lee’s films are always packed with a LOT of material (and I’m not sure if I’ve seen a Spike Lee film that’s under 2 hours running time). Some accuse his films of being convoluted. While She Hate Me may seem like two, if not three films in one, (or seven, I think Ebert claims), lovers of cinema can’t help but be intrigued by it. Basically, our protagonist, played by Anthony Mackie, has just been fired from the pharmaceutical company he works for when attempting to expose corrupt practices (his bosses are played by Woody Harrelson and Ellen Barkin) and ends up in his own corrupt scam for dough when his lesbian ex (Kerry Washington) approaches him to impregnate both her and her partner to the tune of 5,000 each (the old fashioned way, that is). Eventually, Washington pimps Mackie out to a bevy of rich lesbians wanting babies, each shelling out 10,000 for a lay. Mackie unbelievably beds 5 or 6 of these women a night and impregnates all but 2 on the first try. Highly unbelievable---but what is Lee saying about stereotypes about virile black males, not to mention lesbian stereotypes concerning popular belief that all they need is a little dick to be won over? Not to mention that some of these rich lesbians are white (and Bai Ling and Paula Jai Parker pop us as Sapphic sultries) and have absolutely no qualms about getting pregnant by a black man. Which leads us to another subplot of the film when Monica Bellucci visits Mackie to get pregnant, the daughter of an Italian mob boss (John Turturro), her ethnicity important because we have yet another Spike Lee film about Italians and African Americans sleeping together. (Hello! Jungle Fever, 1991). Turturro demands to see Mackie (and provides Mackie with his best Godfather impression) seemingly pleased to be able to have grandchildren, the gay card trumping the race card (Who cares what color the baby is as long there’s going to be a baby?). There is a LOT going on here (and I’ve neglected to mention the origination of the title which is a riff on XFL player Rod Smart’s nickname for himself, “He Hate Me”) and too much for a review to fully appreciate. Lucrative cinema is the cinema of Spike Lee.

Bamboozled (2000): Much more infamous than She Hate Me is Lee’s critically maligned film Bamboozled. I disagree with Ebert’s review, criticizing Lee’s use of blackface in this film as “going too far” for the purpose of satire, which the film is meant to be. I disagree because I don’t believe it’s going too far. In many respects, I don’t believe it can go far enough. The use of blackface is severely taboo---but it’s something that happened. While on the surface, Bamboozled seems to be packaged as a black comedy (no pun intended), but consider the title---Lee shows us a clip from Malcolm X using the word in a speech (in reference to whites). The word ‘bamboozled’ means to have been tricked or deceived, much like how the film works as a mechanism of satire (ie, how audience members watching Lee’s film are part of those being ‘bamboozled’). The film centers around Damon Wayans, playing a character named Pierre Delacroix, an African American TV writer frustrated by his racist boss, Michael Rapaport---who thinks he’s earned the right to freely use the ‘n’ word because he has a black wife and two mixed kids with her. For revenge, Wayans deviously constructs a blackface minstrel show, hiring two homeless street performers desperate for work that won’t mind degrading themselves. The show, much to the chagrin of Wayans, is a huge success. Jada Pinkett Smith plays Wayan’s assistant (and Mos Def appears as her brother, a member of a radical hip hop group) and provides some comic relief as she also can’t understand why Wayons is doing what he’s doing. Add to the fact that Paul Mooney is cast as Wayons estranged father (Mooney talks about white people similar to how Ann Coulter talks about liberals), and Wayon’s ‘white washed’ accent and suspiciously ‘french’ name and you have, at it’s base, concepts of whitewashed versus blackface---and who is wearing what mask at what time? Bamboozled veers off into kidnappings, murder, and mayhem (perhaps Lee’s commentary on how civilization might just rip apart at the seams if we were to realistically address these issues in popular culture) and it may have some other structural issues as a film, but it is nonetheless captivating, funny, angry, maddening, and a brilliant conversation piece.

September (1987): About twenty minutes into what is considered Woody Allen’s second ‘serious’ film (after Interiors, 1978) I gleefully realized that Allen had created an imaginary tale of the daughter of Lana Turner, who was famously acquitted for killing Turner’s boyfriend in a highly publicized court case and the effect it may have had on her. Of course, Turner’s name was changed for the film, which centers on 6 adults vacationing at the end of summer in a summer house in Vermont. The house is kind of owned by Mia Farrow, the daughter of a famous Hollywood star several decades before, played battle-ax brilliant by Elaine Stritch. Farrow has recently recovered from a suicide attempt under the watch of Denholm Elliott, who is in love with her. However, Farrow has fallen in love with a lonely neighbor, a struggling author and divorcee played by Sam Waterston. However, Sam Waterston has the hots (even though he’s slept with Farrow) for her best friend, the married Dianne Wiest, herself desperate to still be considered desirable while struggling through a loveless marriage. While most likely another homage to Ingmar Bergman (as was Interiors), September culminates in a wickedly emotional scene that I’m sure Bergman enjoyed. Excellent, moving cinema from Woody Allen.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943): Hitchcock considered this to be his favorite film. Starring Teresa Wright, who was a major Hollywood name in the 1940’s (she won Best Supporting Actress for her 1942 film, Mrs. Miniver), her lead in Shadow reunites her with one of her co-stars from The Little Foxes (1941), Patricia Collinge, here playing her dowdy mother. Joseph Cotton stars as Uncle Charly, a man who makes his living taking advantage of the fortunes of lonely rich widows the best way you can---killing them and taking their loot. On the lam, he skirts to his sister’s house (Collinge) for a lengthy visit, receiving a warm welcome from his niece (Wright), who was named after him. Convinced she’s so close to her uncle that they’re virtually telepathically connected, Wright starts to get suspicious when Cotton starts giving her gifts like expensive rings with other people’s initials engraved inside. Hmmm. Plus there’s two nosy detectives poking around, asking a lot of questions. What’s a girl to do? Wright most certainly is not my favorite Hitchcock heroine---in fact, she’s a little irritating. If remade frame by frame today, you’d be convinced she’s just a hysterical, repressed young girl who has the hots for her suave uncle. Scripted by playwright Thornton Wilder, and the film debut of Hume Cronyn, Shadow of a Doubt is vintage Hitchcock and gives Cotton a devilish role (and thankfully much better than their collaboration that would come later in the decade, Under Capricorn, 1949, my least favorite of the major American films Hitch made----though the French apparently LOVE it).

Manhattan (1979): Ahh, Woody Allen’s Manhattan---it’s not my favorite Allen but it’s certainly a whimsical ode to the city that’s kind of about falling in love. There’s several beautiful shots of New York that just made me want to jump on a plane and sit somewhere on a park bench in black and white. Allen apparently disliked how the film turned out and was surprised at its amazing critical reception. Highlights of the film are Mariel Hemingway as a 17 year dating the 42 year old Allen (their scenes together now feel like an ominous prophecy of things to come) and her performance is really quite good and she deserved her Oscar nod for Supporting Actress. It’s also interesting to see Meryl Streep in several scenes as Allen’s lesbian ex-wife who has custody of the kid and is penning a tell all book about her life with Allen (apparently he’s the writer of a popular television series). And of course, there’s Diane Keaton, the mistress of his best friend played by Michael Murphy. What can I say? After Annie Hall (1977) it’s difficult to judge the chemistry of Keaton and Allen here, except that it’s always a treat to watch them work together.

Boyz N the Hood (1991): On the surface level, this film will always be referenced as the first film for which a black director was nominated for Best Director, that being John Singleton (and we can add one more name to that short list at this writing in 2010, that being Lee Daniels!!!) but it’s really got so much more going for it than that. Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., the film concerns a group of friends growing up in South Central L.A. Gooding is mostly raised by his father, a gruff and excellent Laurence Fishburne, who attempts to raise his son not to be like the neighborhood kids. Half-brothers Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut seem to reflect the hopelessness up growing up in the ghetto, one born without hope of ever being anything but a gangbanger, the other robbed of opportunity to realize a greater potential than being anything other than a statistic. While there seems to be an overbearing air of hopelessness to this film, the characterizations are quite impressive and full of hope and the possibility of change. It’s refreshing to see Fishburne as a responsible, loving, and reasonable father, raising his son single handedly while his ex-wife (Angela Bassett) works on her career. And even more refreshing is Cuba Gooding Jr. as a young man growing up that wants a better life that the options available for him in South Central and has the gumption to do so. Singleton’s film isn’t without some hilarious moments (like Tyra Ferrell receiving mail from the mailman without a beat mere seconds after a loud, violent brawl between her sons on the front lawn), and stands as an amazingly impressive debut feature for Singleton. And don’t forget a few faces that would become major names in the coming decade, like Regina King and Nia Long.

Out of the Past: The Week in Film

Cess Pool Cinema:
1. The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard. (2009) Dir. Neal Brennan - US

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. Carriers (2009) Dir. Alex & David Pastor - US
2. Impact (1949) Dir. Arthur Lubin - US

Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. House (1977) Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi - Japan

Astounding Cinema:
5. The Collector (1965) Dir. William Wyler – UK
4. Lilies of the Field (1963) Dir. Ralph Nelson – US
3. Downloading Nancy (2008) Dir. Johan Renck – US
2. The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) Dir. Jacques Audiard - France
1. Brother to Brother (2004) Dir. Rodney Evans – US


Theatrical Screenings:
2. It’s Complicated (2009) Dir. Nancy Meyers – US 5/10
1. Crazy Heart (2009) Dir. Scott Cooper – US 7/10

Rewatched Goodies:
1. Gorillas In The Mist (1988) Dir. Michael Apted – US 10/10
2. Nothing But Trouble (1991) Dir. Dan Aykroyd – US 8/10
3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Dir. Steven Spielberg – US 8/10

The Goods (2009): There’s not much good to say about the goods, a bleak, insipid film about used car salesmen (and one crass uber sexed lady played by Kathryn Hahn) travelling around the west coast to help save floundering dealerships. The best news about the dismal box office failure of this film is that shamelessly smug lead, Jeremy Piven, will most likely never snag a leading role in a mainstream film again. James Brolin stars as the owner of a dealership in need while also being a flagrant, latent homosexual that openly flirts with Piven’s partner played by David Koechner, who is portraying fear, disgust and disdain for the Brolin character in every other scene. Sadly, talented support from the likes of Ving Rhames, Ed Helms, and Wendie Malick is wasted in this drudge.

Carriers (2009): A whiny Chris Pine headlines this abysmal apocalyptic thriller as the butch persona in a carful of what we’re lead to believe are high school and college age student, heading to some vague destination while on the run from a viral pandemic. Indie darling Lou Taylor Pucci stars as his more intelligent younger brother and Piper Perabo as his girlfriend. Oh, yeah. There’s some other nondescript actress playing the other female that the film takes great pains to explains is not the girlfriend of the Pucci character. Obviously done before and better multiple times in various arenas, you’ll forget it as the reel unspools.

Impact (1949): Initially, I rented Impact due to my interest in Anna May Wong’s supporting role (the first Chinese American star from the 1930’s) but she’s reduced to an extremely supporting role here as the maid of Helen Walker’s character. What starts off as a shady noir (wife convinces boyfriend to murder her rich husband) turns into soap opera/courtroom melodrama and loses any verve it had in the second half. Noir regular Brian Donlevy is our protagonist, who is usually more interesting when he’s cast as the baddie. Ella Raines gets the task of his new love interest when they meet in the car garage she owns (well, at least that’s being a bit more progressive) but the best part of Impact is maligned actress Helen Walker as the viperous wife. Walker’s career hit a brick wall when she gave a lift to three World War II vets and killed one when she wrecked the car (the other two accused her of drunk driving). Due to this country’s overzealous championing of boys with stripes, Walker had trouble finding work that wasn’t the role of hard, bitter women we love to hate in B films.

House (1977): Guaranteed this is definitely one of the strangest and most confounding films you may ever see. Watch it with a group of people. Director Obayashi’s mind fuck centers around a young Japanese girl who brings her girlfriends for a slumber party to her mysterious aunt’s house in the countryside---except her aunt is ravenous spirit that feeds off of young, virginal girls---but that’s about all I could gather as every scene veers off into a strange direction while you mostly see the girls being attacked by some of the most bizarre set pieces I’ve ever seen. Not quite horrific, but more of a black comedy fantasy, if you revel in finding strange cinematic artifacts, then House (Hausu) is for you.

The Collector (1965): A creepy, late period William Wyler production stars a young and nubile Terence Stamp as an awkward chap that likes to collect butterflies and pretty ladies. Based on the novel by John Fowles, British actress Samantha Eggar stars as the object of Stamp’s affection, whom he kidnaps and holds against her will in a not too shabby room in the ground on a country estate he’s purchased. While their entire relationship seems overtly British (ie, polite), you’ll roll your eyes at Ms. Eggar’s futile attempts at escape. But in the end, the message seems to be that only death preserves beauty, and even then, not forever.

Lilies of the Field (1963): Sidney Poitier won his landmark Oscar for this role as a traveling handyman in rural Arizona who stumbles upon a clan of nuns recently emigrated from East Germany, who have no money and are in need of a church being built for the purposes of congregation. While the religious overtones might be offputting to some, the brilliant and captivating turn by Poitier mixed with the crusty but lovely performance from Lilia Skala as the Mother Superior is indeed heartwarming and uplifting. A definite must see for lovers of cinema and as the first film for which an African American male won Best Actor.

Downloading Nancy (2008): Swedish director Johan Renck is best known for his numerous award winning music videos (such as Madonna’s “Hung Up”) around the world. His feature film debut, Downloading Nancy, debuted at Sundance and kind of fell off the radar everywhere until Mario Bello was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her excellent portrait of a depressed woman that hires a man from the internet to kill her. A very offputting story about an unsettling subject matter, Bello falls in love with the man she employs (Jason Patric), who also develops feelings for her. Meanwhile, her distant and oppressive husband (Rufus Sewell) wonders what happened to her when she suddenly disappears one day. While the depths of Bello’s historical make-up is only hinted at in key instances (a point which will either intrigue viewers or make them demand more of an explanation) Downloading Nancy isn’t meant to be a character study of depraved female sexuality a la Haneke’s The Piano Teacher (2001). But you might want to plan something fun after catching this very worthwhile film that captures a beautiful performance from the beautiful and talented Maria Bello.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005): Jacques Audiard’s latest film, A Prophet (2009) is rocking the cinematic realm since it’s enthusiastic debut at Cannes in 2009, but his previous feature, The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) was a but more enjoyable to me. A remake of James Toback’s 1978 film Fingers starring Harvey Keitel and Jim Brown, the narrative concerns Tom (played here by French superstar Romain Duris) who has followed in his father’s footsteps in crimelord real estate. His dead mother was a concert pianist and a chance encounter with her instructor motivates him to take his chances at becoming a concert pianist, causing him to take lessons with Miao Lin (French star Linh Dan Pham), a young woman who has just come to France and only speaks Vietnamese and English. Attempting to leave behind his life of crime and his dead beat father (Niels Arestrup, as despicable a father figure here as he is in A Prophet) it is only when he finds his father murdered that he can truly leave the past behind him. Look for excellent support from Emmanuelle Devos (also in Audiard’s Read My Lips, 2001) and the cinema’s latest great find (thanks to Tarantino), Melanie Laurent.

Brother to Brother (2004): Director Rodney Evans’ independent feature opened to good reviews but seems to have been dismissed as too “overreaching” in scope. I disagree. Brother to Brother stars the brilliant Anthony Mackie as a gay young man in modern day New York, recently disowned from his family. The film follows Mackie as he befriends an old man named Bruce Nugent, who happens to have been a key player in the Harlem Renaissance with the likes of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, now living alone and destitute. We get plenty of flashbacks with a young Nugent and his experiences with writing and art alongside the likes of Hughes (Daniel Sunjata) and Hurston (Aunjanue Ellis). And Mackie’s character faces his own trials and travails as a young black male in modern day which is juxtaposed brilliantly with black gay artists like Langston Hughes and James Baldwin. To have a film reflect on the history of some of history’s most prominent African American artists that explores their orientation is relevant, important, extraordinary and extremely touching in the fact that watching it makes you realize that we couldn’t have films like Brother to Brother today if it weren’t for trailblazers like Hughes, Baldwin, and numerous others. This film is dedicated to the memory of Bruce Nugent and is recommended viewing for everyone.

Valentine's Day 2010 - Bad Romance: A Cinematic Exploration of the Dark Side of Love

Dear Reader: Do any of these situations pertain to you?

Single? Exasperated by the maniacal fury surrounding you on this manufactured love holiday, unable to get a seat at your favorite restaurant with your mother due to the influx of lovers calorically proving their love?

Married? Irritated that you have to spend more pretty pennies on your significant other so soon after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years (and maybe a birthday, or an anniversary to boot) that Love day just seems to be a tired chore?

Courting? You’ve just met someone special but you’re afraid to be overly creepy and suggest something too serious too soon? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, you’re afraid you’ll appear dull and uncaring?

Adventurous? You’re friends with the extremely entertaining Nicholas Bell, master of the macabre, fearless leader of the weak, harridan of the homosexuals, and you’ve been lucky enough to be invited to join him in a rigorous spell of movie love?

Well, if any of the above four situations pertain to you, then I know where you’ll be when the dusk of Valentine’s Day comes nigh!

This Valentine’s Day, the husband and I would like to cordially invite you to our Valentine’s Day Double Feature event, Bad Romance: A Cinematic Exploration of the Dark Side of Love. This movie event is scheduled to take place in a rented home theater! And since we realize this is love’s big day, we thought it best to get word out a little earlier than usual so that you can keep our event in mind.

Featured Films:

Leave Her To Heaven (1945)
Starring: Gene Tierney, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price
Director John M. Stahl
Foreboding Quote: “There’s nothing wrong with Ellen. It’s just that she loves too much!”

Boxing Helena (1993)
Starring: Sherilyn Fenn, Julian Sands, Bill Paxton, Art Garfunkel
Director: Jennifer Chambers Lynch
Foreboding Tagline: “Beyond love, beyond obsession, there hides something beyond reason!”


Leave Her To Heaven features my favorite performance from Gene Tierney (in her only Oscar nominated role) as a woman who loves a little too, uhh, fiercely. Described as a “Technicolor” film noir, this is one film directed by John M. Stahl that wasn’t remade later by auteur Douglas Sirk (such as Magnificent Obsession and Imitation of Life). Probably because Sirk realized this film was perfect as it stands.

Boxing Helena is that infamous 1993 debut from the daughter of David Lynch. Originally set to star Madonna, headlines were made when Kim Basinger dropped out of the project, causing a scandalous lawsuit that forced Basinger to file for bankruptcy. The role of Helena would go to early 90’s sex kitten Sherilyn Fenn, in a film that did for her what Showgirls (1995) did for Elizabeth Berkley. Definitely a fun, campy must-see film.

Intermission will feature a game centered around failed celebrity relationships trivia called “Boxing the Tricks,” in which I will be dividing all those in attendance into 5 teams (each team named after a famous American sweetheart). Each team will receive a box that contains the torso of a Barbie doll. Every correct answer to a question asked of the team will receive an appendage. Whatever team wins back the most appendages wins a prize! So come one, come all for a cinematic event to remember!


Please RSVP for show time and directions to the home theater venue.

Out of the Past: The Week In Film

Cess Pool Cinema:
1. I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) Dir. Tyler Perry - US

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. All About Steve (2009) Dir. Steve Traill - US
2. Seventh Moon (2009) Dir. Eduardo Sanchez – US
3. All of Me (1984) Dir. Carl Reiner - US

Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. Women In Revolt (1971) Dir. Paul Morrissey - US

Astounding Cinema:
7. Who Do Fools Fall In Love (1998) Dir. Gregory Nava – US
6. The House of the Devil (2009) Dir. Ti West – US
5. Crimes & Misdemeanors (1989) Dir. Woody Allen – US
4. Out of the Past (1947) Dir. Jacques Tourneur – US
3. The Apartment (1960) Dir. Billy Wilder – US
2. The Shanghai Gesture (1941) Dir. Josef Von Sternberg - US
1. Ed Wood (1994) Dir. Tim Burton – US

Rewatched Goodies:
1. The Wizard of Oz (1939) Dir. Victor Fleming – US 10/10
2. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987) Dir. Todd Haynes – US 10/10

Theatrical Screenings:
1. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) Dir. Terry Gilliam – US 7/10

I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) – Cursed be this latest abortion sprung on us from Tyler Perry. As most filmmakers seem to improve with experience, Perry seems to worsen with each additional effort. A muddled, exasperating miasma of stereotypes and dogmatic religious tropes, recent Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson (who at least looks good) is saddled with headlining this contemptible sewage. Tyler Perry is obviously not a lover of cinema, for anyone in love with the movies wouldn’t bother filming such a cursed disease into existence. Tyler Perry directing a film, I’ve come to decide, is like hiring your dentist to perform your abortion. Cunning necromancer that he is, Perry cast himself in drag (that infernal Madea queen) realizing that his films fail to make money without this, errr, obviously queer characterization, while also plopping Mary J. Blige into the mix, but not really as a character, you see, but rather as a muppet conveniently able to sling liquor and sing songs as is deemed necessary.

All About Steve (2009) – I’m actually being nice putting this film into the mediocre category. Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper star in this uncomfortable and puzzling film trying to be a romantic comedy. Bullock’s a crossword puzzle creator that insists she’s in love with Cooper, a cameraman with baby chicken hair, stalking him around the country while he films unnecessary news events with Thomas Haden Church. Along the way, many uncomfortable things happen and you’ll wish this would swiftly turn into a rampaging horror film in which our heroine gets sacrificed to a horny moon demon, but there’s no such luck here.

Seventh Moon (2009) – Speaking of moon demons, the co-director of The Blair Witch Project (1999), Eduardo Sanchez’s new film, Seventh Moon is an infuriating exercise, if mostly because it’s got quite a creepy premise that gets off to an excellent start. Amy Smart and Tim Chiou star as a couple honeymooning in China during a “Hungry Ghost” festival, and unfortunately get themselves offered up as a sacrifice of sorts during the night of the seventh moon when a bunch of moon demons stalk the Earth and eat people. Before any racial issues can be soundly explored the couple is being chased around in the dark. For once, Amy Smart managed to avoid my disdain, but mostly because she’s only running around screaming in the dark and we can barely see her. And I mean barely. Most of this film seems to be lit only by the light of the moon, meaning that after about 45 minutes of Amy Smart getting chased by moon demons made me want her to catch her faster. It’s hard to stay interested when there’s nothing to see.

All of Me (1984) – Carl Reiner directs Steve Martin again, but this time with comedian Lily Tomlin along for the ride, as a spirit that’s taken over half of Martin’s body. While Martin certainly rises to the occasion in a role that’s quite physically demanding, Tomlin’s role is extremely underwritten and annoying, falling flat in nearly every scene. Victoria Tennant (who used to be married to Martin) is also in a thankless role as a bad girl/love interest. Sadly forgettable.

Women In Revolt (1971) – If you’re in the mood to watch three of Andy Warhol’s most famous drag queens tramp it up in a film about the Women’s Lib movement, you need to see Women In Revolt. Warhol regular Paul Morrissey (Flesh for Frankenstein, 1973; Blood For Dracula, 1974) directs Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn, and Jackie Curtis. Poor Candy Darling would die of cancer only three years later, and Jackie Curtis (who steals most of her scenes brilliantly, would die of a heroin overdose in 1985. Holly Woodlawn is still alive, (and Kids On TV wrote a song about her ostrich feathers/welfare predicament) playing an avid nymphomaniac here. Definitely worth the time to check out. “You’ve been loud too long.”

Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998) – While this film is kind of a guilty pleasure, it manages to construct an interesting and attention worthy narrative out of nothing. Basically, in the mid 1980’s when Diana Ross decided to cover the song “Why Do Fools Fall In Love,” which was performed and written by one hit wonder Frankie Lymon, not one but three of his wives, which he was married to simultaneously, come out of the woodwork for a big paycheck. The film basically recounts the drug addled and turbulent world of these three women as they each take the stand in a hearing presided over by Pamela Reed as the judge. Lela Rochon is saddled with playing the angelic stereotype, but Halle Berry as the glamorous Zola Taylor, and especially Vivica A. Fox as Lymon’s less sophisticated spouse are quite good here.

The House of the Devil (2009) – Director Ti West ups his game with this latest offering, a throwback to 1980’s horror with this tale of a babysitter that’s not quite watching what she expects. Newcomer Jocelyn Donahue stars while Mumblecore alum Greta Gerwig supplies excellent support, Tom Noonan turns in a perfectly creepy performance and we even get a cameo from 80’s horror staple Dee Wallace. Excellent buildup and a satisfactory ending make this one for aficionados to hanker for.

Crimes & Misdemeanors (1989) – Woody Allen’s original dark concept film (I’m talking before Match Point, 2005 and Cassandra’s Dream, 2007) was an excellent cap to his 80’s era as an exercise of good vs. evil, sight vs. blindness, punishment vs. redemption. Allen casts himself as the center of a subplot involving Mia Farrow, which is the less interesting part of the film. More intriguing is dentist Martin Landau hiring his brother with mafia ties, Jerry Orbach, to kill his persistent and out of control mistress, Anjelica Huston, so as not to rock the boat with his perfect marriage to Claire Bloom. Good stuff, and a darkly comic Allen in top form.

Out of the Past (1947) – Yes, this is film from which I grabbed the title to name my weekly cinema roundups. Helmed by one of my favorites, Jacques Tourneur (responsible for faves Cat People, 1942 and Night of the Demon, 1957) Out of the Past is considered a definitive film noir. Starring Robert Mitchum, the first half of the film is told in flashback while Mitchum relates his past evil doings as a private investigator to his current girlfriend (Virginia Huston) concerning a past flame (Jane Greer starring as one of the wickedest femme fatales you’re wont to see) and her torrid relationship with a crooked gangster (Kirk Douglas). A heady and satisfying conclusion wraps up this noir gem, which also features Rhonda Fleming as a double crossing secretary.

The Apartment (1960) – Winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 1960, Billy Wilder’s wildly successful dark comedy concerns a lowly office worker attempting to get quickly promoted by loaning out his apartment for the manager’s to use for their trysts and other various infidelities. Quiet risqué, even by today’s standards, Jack Lemmon stars as the owner of the apartment who’s also in love with the elevator operator played by Shirley MacLaine. Little does he know that MacLaine is the mistress of the owner of Lemmon’s company, played with smarmy certainty by Fred MacMurray. Those expecting a zany comedy in the vein of Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959) will be surprised at how dark and kind of perverse this film is. But the more I think about it after watching it, the more touching and human this film becomes.

The Shanghai Gesture (1941) – Considered to be the last great film by auteur Josef Von Sternberg, this film based on the 1925 play about prostitution and opium addiction in modern Shanghai was obviously altered considerably to meet censorship standards. However, as with most great films battling the morons dictating standards tend to be, Sternberg’s work shines through. Breathtaking beauty Gene Tierney stars as Poppy (meant to symbolize the flower from which opium is derived) an ingénue drawn into an infamous gambling house run by Madam Gin Sling (originally named Madame Goddam in the play) portrayed in one of the most delightfully strange and arresting performances I’ve ever seen on film by actress Ona Munson (who is not Chinese), a virtual dragon-lady with Medusa hair, and perhaps Satan personified. The casino is leveled to symbolize Hell, like Dante’s Inferno. Walter Huston stars a wealthy businessman who has bought a large portion of land in Shanghai and wishes to clean it up by forcing Madame Gin Sling out of business. However, Huston’s daughter is Gene Tierney, who becomes addicted to gambling, opium, and uhh, other hinted at vices that Madame Gin Sling uses in her favor to manipulate Huston (Huston would plays Tierney’s father again in 1946’s Dragonwyck). Throw into the mix a nefarious bisexual playboy (“I’m a doctor of Shanghai….and Gomorrah”) played by Victor Mature, who’s not really a real doctor at all. A stunning finale reveals Madame Gin Sling’s own wicked secret, and before you know it the tables turn one last time to end this picture with a bang. I can’t express how truly awesome this film and Ona Munson’s performance is. Amazing.

Ed Wood (1994) – And topping this week’s list is Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic of sorts about one of the worst directors of all time, the well meaning and passionate Ed Wood, and his relationship (and sometimes exploitation) of faded, drug addled screen star, Bela Lugosi. Martin Landau deservedly won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal as Lugosi in one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. Burton’s film manages to be touching, charismatic, exciting, and hilarious, with pitch perfect support from the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, Patricia Arquette, and an utterly fabulous performance from Bill Murray as an effete homosexual. Johnny Depp is the eponymous director in a film that could possibly be Burton’s best work (though Edward Scissorhands 1990 might tie for that title).

Out of the Past: The Week in Film

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. Eros (2004) Dir(s). Wong Kar Wai; Steven Soderbergh; Michelangelo Antonioni – USA/Italy/Hong Kong
2. A Home at the End of the World (2004) Dir. Michael Mayer - US

Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. Cleopatra (1963) Dir. Joseph L. Manckiewicz - US
2. Tim (1979) Dir. Michael Pate – Australia

Astounding Cinema:
3. Wild Tigers I Have Known (2006) Dir. Cam Archer – US
2. London To Brighton (2006) Dir. Paul Andrew Williams - UK
1. Bad Santa (2003) Dir. Terry Zwigoff – US

Theatrical Screenings:
1. Big Fan (2009) Dir. Robert D. Siegel – US 8/10

Rewatched Goodies:
1. Fallen (1998) Dir. Gregory Hoblit – US 7/10
2. Total Recall (1990) Dir. Paul Verhoeven – US 10/10

Eros (2004): Three short films from three international auteurs about love and sex all seem to say the same thing about their subject matter – tedious. Wong Kar Wai’s “The Hand,” seems to fare the best of the three films, though it pales in comparison to some of his greater work, similar work in In the Mood For Love (2000). Steven Soderbergh’s “Equilibrium” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Alan Arkin is sometimes amusing, but Michaelangelo Antonioni’s “The Dangerous Thread of Things” is the most tedious of all, and ultimately only shows us that young Italian women love showing off their naked bodies, especially their breasts. Yet another reminder that films trying the hardest to document eroticism usually are the least erotic to watch.

A Home at the End of the World (2004): I really wanted to like this film. The first twenty minutes or so are actually quite good, thanks to a lovely performance from Sissy Spacek---but when Colin Farrell’s character grows up circa 1982, the whole film reeks of vintage veneer that never gets beyond trying to hard to recreate early 80’s New York. While I don’t mind Farrell in the lead (an infamous full frontal shot was cut at the last minute) and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours is an extraordinary film and novel, I just felt like this ended up being a huge piece of schlock that failed on all levels to make me believe that the three main characters would ever love each other, much less have a baby and raise it together. Dallas Roberts as the AIDS stricken gay character suffers the most as an unlikeable imp, and the usually marvelous Robin Wright Penn is hampered by insipid eccentricities and kool-aid colored hair. Theater director Michael Mayer (who would go on to direct the 2006 film version of Flicka) clearly should have let more experienced hands take the reigns, especially considered Cunningham also has screenwriting cred.

Cleopatra (1963): Wow, what a long dull failure this film is. And I love director Mankiewicz. But the film is only recommended for extreme aficionados of Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton films. It’s four hours long. And most of it is talking. Dull talking. Liz looks lovely, though. Burton is Marc Antony and Rex Harrison is Julius Caesar (you could toss a coin concerning who is more miscast) but it’s fun to see supporting players like Roddy McDowll, Martin Landau, and Hume Cronyn show up.

Tim (1979): An Australian production starring Mel Gibson as a mentally handicapped youth seduced and married by an older woman played by Piper Laurie. Need I say more? Watch for Gibson imitating a kangaroo and his first love scene, filmed in pitch black. While the film is certainly not offensive, you’ll laugh once or twice at the “demure” performances. Australian actor Michael Pate directs, his only directorial effort. Based on the novel by Colleen McCoulough, Laurie’s character is shamelessly shown to be reading McCoulough’s masterwork, “The Thorn Birds” in once scene. Tsk tsk.

Wild Tigers I Have Known (2006): While not the best independent effort about growing up gay, Tigers is an intriguing, if somewhat forgettable first effort from Cam Archer. While it’s easy to become impatient with this slow moving narrative, it’s an interesting portrayal (Michael Stumpf) of a 13 year old boy named Logan, who’s falling in love with the school rebel. Donning a female alter ego, Logan seduces Rodeo (Patrick White) via the telephone to have meet and have sex in a cave. Appropriately uncomfortable (watching kids try to have sexy times is decidedly awkward and creepy, but realistic), Logan’s voiceovers are perhaps the most touching parts of the narrative, aligning his alienated status with that of the hunted wild cougars that have been spotted in the area. At time tedious, and at times poetic, Wild Tigers I Have Known also sports an interesting turn from Fairuza Balk as Logan’s mom, and indie darling Kim Dickenson as the school counselor.

London to Brighton (2006): This is director Paul Andrew Williams’ astounding debut---and he’s gone on to direct the excellent The Cottage (2008) and also penned Tom Shankland’s The Children (2008). London to Brighton is a gritty little grunge thriller about a beat-up prostitute and a young girl on the run, leaving the narrative to unfold and reveal who is chasing them and why. An interesting and disturbing look at the sex trade (which is usually the case – except for the case of last year’s Taken, that just seemed hammy) London to Brighton loses a little steam in it’s last 20 minutes, but that might be because I guessed the twist half way through the film---but that’s not to say this isn’t an excellent piece of cinema from an evocative new voice in cinema.

Bad Santa (2003): The number one film this week is the foul mouthed Christmas caper from Terry Zwigoff, featuring Billy Bob Thornton in what must be his best performance outside of Sling Blade (1996). Basically the tale of a con artist Santa Clause, Santa manages to be dirty minded and funny as well as touching at several moments---I actually got misty eyed two times when Thornton ends up bonding with a chubby young lad. Lauren Graham didn’t quite do it for me (any young woman that’s a bartender with a fixation about getting screwed by Santa seems like a land mine waiting to blow). Cloris Leachman, who looks about the same here as she did in Prancer (1989), is also featured as well as the now deceased Bernie Mac and John Ritter. Tony Cox is also excellent as Thornton’s partner in crime.

Sunday, January 10, 2010 -- The Devil and Karen Carpenter

Well ladies and gentleman, it’s that time of the month again. That’s right---movie night. Please join me and the hubby for a spectacular double feature event this Sunday, January 10, 2010.

The evening’s first film will be Todd Hayne’s notorious first short feature, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987) which tells the tragic tale of singing sweetheart Karen Carpenter and her eating disorder told via Barbie dolls. It goes without saying that there is no corresponding thematic meal that really does something like anorexia justice, so in honor of our first feature, we will serve Karen Carpenter Cocktails. Yes, these cocktails will be tooled specifically for the purposes of dieting and slenderizing.

And our second feature will be horror director Ti West’s (The Roost, 2005) latest effort, The House of the Devil, which has enjoyed considerable festival acclaim. Released in extremely limited release in late October, come see the lauded horror film before the DVD release. The House of the Devil tells the tale of Samantha Hughes, a college student in the 1980’s that takes a strange babysitting job during a lunar eclipse, only to discover her employer’s plot to use her in a satanic ritual. Oh shit! Starring Jocelin Donahue (whom you might recognize if you caught The Burrowers, 2008) the film also features Mumblecore alum Greta Gerwig (Baghead, 2008) and 80’s horror icon Dee Wallace, that lovely woman from classics like The Howling (1981), E.T. (1982), Cujo (1983) and Critters (1986). And how could this not be appropriate without Devil’s Food Cake?

Talk on the phone. Finish your homework. Watch TV. DIE!

Please RSVP for showtimes.

Best Performances of 2009

Best Supporting Actor:

5. Robert Duvall - The Road

4. Jeremie Renier - Lorna's Silence

3. Woody Harrelson - The Messenger

2. Christoph Walz - Inglourious Basterds

1. Udo Kier - My Son My Son What Have Ye Done

Best Actor

14. Michael Sheen - The Damned United

13. Martin Compston - The Disappearance of Alice Creed

12. Fernando Santos - To Die Like a Man

11. Olle Sarri - The Ape

10. Joseph Gordon Levitt - 500 Days of Summer

9. Eddie Marsan - The Disappearance of Alice Creed

8. Sam Rockwell - Moon

7. Ben Foster - The Messenger

6. Tahar Rahim - A Prophet

5. Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

4. Viggo Mortenson - The Road

3. Nicolas Cage - Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

2. Xavier Dolan - I Killed My Mother

1. Colin Firth - A Single Man


Best Supporting Actress:

17. Paulina Gaitan - Sin Nombre

16. Olivia Williams - An Education

15. Jennifer Coolidge - Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

14. Laura Smet - Towards Zero

13. Aggeliki Papoulia - Dogtooth

12. Hafsia Herzi - The Secret of the Grain

11. Paula Patton - Precious

10. Grace Zabriskie - My Son My Son What Have Ye Done

9. Alice Krige - Skin

8. Anna Faris - Observe & Report

7. Patricia Clarkson - Whatever Works

6. Mo'Nique - Precious

5. Sigourney Weaver - Crazy on the Outside

4. Maria Bello - The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

3. Samantha Morton - The Messenger

2. Julianne Moore - A Single Man

1. Sigourney Weaver - Avatar

Best Actress

22. Isabelle Fuhrman - Orphan

21. Yvonne Strahovski - The Canyon

20. Nisreen Faour - Amreeka

19. Michelle Pfeiffer - Cheri

18. Carey Mulligan - An Education

17. Julianne Moore - Chloe
16. Robin Wright Penn - The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

15. Paprika Steen - Applause

14. Kim Hye-ja - Mother

13. Tilda Swinton - I Am Love

12. Isabelle Carre - Le Refuge

11. Sophie Okonedo - Skin

10. Isabelle Huppert - White Material

9. Elisabeth Shue - Don McKay

8. Robin McLeavy - The Loved Ones

7. Zoe Saldana - Avatar

6. Hiam Abbass - Lemon Tree

5. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Anti-Christ

4. Melanie Laurent - Inglourious Basterds

3. Kim Ok-Vin - Thirst

2. Paz de la Huerta - Enter the Void

1. Anne Dorval - I Killed My Mother

Out of the Past: The Week In Film

The Banal, the Blah, the Banausic:
1. Sprung (1996) Dir. Randy Cundieff - US
2. Nightbreed (1990) Dir. Clive Barker - US

Guilty Pleasure Cinema:
1. Boom! (1968) Dir. Joseph Losey - UK
2. The Wiz (1978) Dir. Sidney Lumet – US
3. Cold Comfort Farm (1995) Dir. John Schlesinger - UK

Astounding Cinema:
3. Eureka (1983) Dir. Nicolas Roeg – UK/US
2. The Headless Woman (2008) Dir. Lucretia Martel - Argentina
1. On the Waterfront (1954) Dir. Elia Kazan – US

Theatrical Screenings:
1. Sherlock Holmes (2009) Dir. Guy Ritchie – UK/US

Rewatched Goodies:
1. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) Dir. Jean Negulesco - US
2. Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom (1984) Dir. Steven Spielberg - US

Sprung (1996): Tired concept that drags on for nearly two hours about two lovers best friends trying to sabotage their relationship due to warring nature of said friends' own past relationship. I didn't feel like writing another sentence about that. I think that makes sense. Sorry. Supporting players Joe Torry and Paula Jai Parker fare alright, but poor Tisha Campbell Martin's got a tought job trying to make a realistic relationship with boring boring boring writer/director/star Randy Cundieff. Randy would never direct another major motion picture after Sprung. He sticks television these days.

Nightbreed (1990): I was a Stephen King runt in elementary school, therefore, I never read any Clive Barker. I've enjoyed an adaptation of his work here and there, but Barker himself directed this strange little picture, based on his novel "Cabal." No, I haven't seen Hellraiser (1987), which Barker also directed, but Nightbreed suffers from a lot of things, one of them being lack of clarity and poor transitions. Poorly written dialogue and a piss poor performance from female lead Anne Bobby further complicated my irritation---plus I'm pretty sure I would have hated the evil therapist played by David Cronenberg if I hadn't been aware that a great director like Cronenberg was hamming it up here. And the lead is Craig Sheffer. Remember him?

Boom! (1968): Having done my thesis on adaptations of Tennessee Williams' works, this 1968 adaptation of his play "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" has long been on my list of things to see. Famously dubbed "failed art" by director John Waters, Boom! is basically an entertaining mess, another vehicle where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton get to scream bloody murder at each other, except that between screaming bouts, we kind of lose interest in what is going on, which is basically very little. Burton plays a young poet that has a bad habit of showing up at wealthy ladies' doorsteps just before they're about to die. Taylor is playing a wealthy older woman who seems to be denying from some unkown disease. The saddest part of the whole affair is that the great director Joseph Losey helmed this mess (though it was rumored that he was drinking heavily during the shoot).

The Wiz (1978): And yet another example of a horribly miscast lead is this urban musical production of "The Wizard of Oz" directed, strangely enough, by Sidney Lumet. Starring a 33 year old Diana Ross as the young Dorothy, it seems the makeup crew did everything in their power to make Ms. Ross look the least attractive she ever has. Sadly, The Wiz is mostly a dated masterpiece of what could have been, nearly every dance number a pain to stay awake through (and it's interesting to note that listening to the music on CD is more lively). While I certainly am a great fan of Ms. Ross, she looks like a dowdy crazed Aunt jonesing for uppers, her stick legs akimbo as she gallops all over the screen. While it's obvious that all involved seemed to enjoy working together (and the expressions on Lena Horne's face in the end are worth seeing, believe me) The Wiz is a sad little was. But definitely worth a look if you're in the right mood.

Cold Comfort Farm (1995): A young Kate Beckinsale gets her first major lead in John Schlesinger's goofy adaptation of Stella Gibbons' novel. Though I felt Joanna Lumley was sorely underused, the rest of the cast is quite entertaining as a rural farm family that takes in a long lost niece after her parents die, mostly to right the wrongs against the young woman's father. Eileen Atkins is in top form, as is Ian McKellan as a fire and brimstone preacher -- but the real prize of Cold Comfort Farm is Sheila Burrell as the reclusive and disoriented matriarch that continually spouts "I saw something nasty in the woodshed." The biggest detraction? A haughty, spoiled heroine played by the unimpressive Beckinsale. Well, she was young, wasn't she?

Eureka (1983): Nicolas Roeg is a director you either love or hate. I love most of his output before his marriage to Theresa Russell, whose performances always seem a bit campy to me. And she's in prime form here. Eureka stars the great Gene Hackman as an arctic prospector who strikes it rich when he discovers a cave filled with gold. Fast forward two decades to the 1940's and Hackman is a grizzled old man, pissed at his drunken wife and upset that his daughter (Russell) wants to marry a French playboy that might be a gold digger, in the more modern sense of the word (Rutger Hauer). Add some Miami mobsters (Joe Pesci) and a skeezy lawyer (Mickey Rourke) who want to bulldoze over Hackman's private island paradise to build a casino and things culminate in a vicious murder.

The Headless Woman (2008): Argentinian director Lucretia Martel's third film was derided at Cannes 08, left out of Toronto 08 and never scored a theatrical release. On DVD, The Headless Woman is making everyone's Best Of lists for 2009 (including John Waters) and I would have to agree. Beware, if you don't like to be challenged, this might not be the film for you. Woman centers on Veronica (Maria Onetto), who, at the beginning of the film, runs over something in the road, which she doesn't get out to investigate. However, as the day progresses, this incident throws Veronica into a sort of fugue state, where she forgets everything about herself and is only convinced that she ran over a child rather than a dog. There's so much going on inside and outside this narrative---politically, the construction of female identity, and not to mention Martel's stylistic flairs (concerning the framing of Onetto), plus Onetto's performance, etc, making this an excellent cinematic feature. It is one of the best films you'd be lucky to experience from this year.

On the Waterfront (1954): What is there not to say about this American classic? Or, rather, what is left to say? One of the most iconic pieces of American cinema, Waterfront gives us Kazan before he was a backstabber, Brando before he got too creepy, and a young and fresh Eva Marie Saint to admire. A well deserving picture win, (Brando won Best Acotr and Saint won Supporting Actress for her film debut), if you haven't sat down and watched On the Waterfront, make it a priority. Watch out for an excellent supporting cast in the shape of Rod Steiger, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Leif Erickson. A true contender for one of the best films ever made.