tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58572472011-04-21T14:14:41.577-04:00Jurgen Goes To The Moviesviews from the projection boothJurgennoreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1106032638212978402005-01-18T02:47:00.000-04:002005-01-18T03:17:18.213-04:00MARTY SELLS HIS SOUL... AND FINALLY MAKES ANOTHER GOOD MOVIE AGAIN
Working as a hired gun, I'm sure Martin Scorsese considers his Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator as a one of those "one for them" projects, but it's the best thing he's done in ten years. Scorsese's professionalism is a welcome change from his distending auteurism. David Edelstein mentions that he seems to have borrowed some of Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1104991826558569192005-01-06T02:54:00.000-04:002005-01-06T02:12:42.276-04:00THE PROBLEM WITH BEING INCREDIBLE
There's no doubt that The Incredibles is sensational entertainment, but it's appearance on numerous Ten Best lists is a little baffling. It pales beside Spider-Man 2, which is admittedly as much a remake and reworking of the first film as it is a sequel, but it's still the best of its kind since Burton's Batman movies.
The Incredibles, frankly, just seems a Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1104820552803473192005-01-04T02:25:00.000-04:002005-01-04T02:48:17.230-04:00MY WOULD-BE TAKE 6 BALLOT
The Village Voice Take 6 is out. Here's what I would have voted for if they had let me:
BEST FILM
1. Sideways (Alexander Payne)
2. Touching the Void (Kevin McDonald)
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
4. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
5. The Agronomist (Jonathan Demme)
6. Old Boy (Chan-wook Park)
7. The Saddest Music in the World (Guy Maddin)
Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1099634947723554192004-11-05T02:25:00.000-04:002004-11-05T02:25:34.490-04:00TRUE LOVE'S FATE
Birth ***1/2
Adding to her impressively diverse resume, Nicole Kidman plays a woman struggling to deny that a 10-year-old boy might be the reincarnation of her dead husband. This second feature by the director of Sexy Beast begins as an uncanny tribute to the gift of true love, but grows to suggest that it's as much a tragic curse. (Hitchcock's Vertigo is certainly an Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1098422312927994002004-10-22T01:15:00.000-04:002004-10-29T12:31:55.320-04:00CHEKOV ON A BENDER
Sideways ****
The fourth film by director Alexander Payne and his co-writer Jim Taylor, Sideways is in many ways the least ambitious of their collaborations. (Remember the abortion comedy Citizen Ruth? Or the use of four different narrators in Election?) But this simple road movie about two bachelors, one about to be married and one recently divorced, is so achingly and Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1095999598760153122004-09-24T01:17:00.000-04:002004-09-24T02:00:10.530-04:00ZOLOFT NATION
Garden State **
A struggling actor (Zach Braff) comes back home to suburban New Jersey after the death of his mother, and tries to confront the life he left behind nine years ago. Making his directorial debut, Braff is clearly going for some kind of low-key twentysomething generational statement. He's done his cinematic homework. The film is loaded with the kind of precious Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1089086440969550052004-07-05T23:57:00.000-04:002004-07-06T00:03:19.983-04:00SOMETHING TO SEE THIS WEEKEND
Two more reviews:
Before Sunset ****
Director Richard Linklater revisits idealistic young lovers Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) now nine years older in what is on the verge of becoming the filmmaker's Antoine Doinel cycle. Yet for all its French New Wave influences (the film is even set in Paris), it's unique from the precedent films of Rohmer, Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1088052284730771602004-06-24T00:28:00.000-04:002004-06-24T14:42:08.600-04:00EYE OF THE LIGER
Napoleon Dynamite ***
Quirky high-school comedy in the mold of Rushmore and Welcome to the Dollhouse--but with more of the goodwill of the former. First-time director Jared Hess wears his influences on his sleave, but it would be a mistake to confuse his lack of originality for a lack of talent. Hess knows funny. Working from a script co-written by brother Jerusha, Hess Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1088020961378328412004-06-23T15:59:00.000-04:002004-06-24T00:27:30.680-04:00REVIEWS, MORE REVIEWS, WITH NOTHING MORE TO SHOW FOR IT
Well, I applied for an internship with eye magazine, but I haven't heard back so I'm assuming I'm not even going to be considered for an interview. How disheartening. Anyways, the good news is that I had to come up with some writing samples, so I might as well post them here. (Re-reading the Eternal Sunshine review, it does seem kinda Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1085639950946879772004-05-27T02:27:00.000-04:002004-06-24T00:59:51.016-04:00MOORE'S LAW
Well, shiver me timbers. Fahrenheit 9/11 won the top prize at Cannes, surprising many of us who thought anything by Wong Kar-wai would be more to Quentin's liking. (Tarantino's Rolling Thunder distributed Wong's breazy Chungking Express in North America. Yet despite some favourable reviews, 2046 was shut out of the awards.) Quentin even defended the jury's selection amid the Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1085027806329934192004-05-20T00:34:00.000-04:002004-06-24T00:28:38.596-04:00INCENDIARY: FAHRENHEIT 9/11 AND THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MICHAEL
Michael Moore's documentary about the failure of the current Bush administration promises to be the biggest independently released film since Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. But can it reach out to broader audiences, or will it merely preach to the converted?
A couple of months ago, I got into an argument with a Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1084523098557033742004-05-14T04:11:00.000-04:002004-05-14T04:46:53.290-04:00CHICAGO READER DOES IT AGAIN; CASTA AT CANNES
Two really good reviews online today at the Chicago Reader.
First, stalwart Jonathan Rosenbaum does his damnedest to explain what makes Guy Maddin's marvelously moving/ridiculous The Saddest Music in the World so good, while Noah Berlatsky nails what's wrong with Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 (although I think he's still too generous in his final Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1079883427973383162004-03-21T10:18:00.000-05:002004-03-21T19:47:24.496-05:00"This is the best movie I've seen in a decade."
Links, links, more links.
Yes, the Bloor Cinema has finally reopened. Meet the Brothers Bordonaro, Carm and Paul, who own and operate the best rep theatre in the city. (I've got money on the Music Hall being the next Toronto theatre to collapse--I'm actually amazed its ceiling hasn't already crumbled.)
Filmmaker/playwright David Mamet begins byJurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1079680179155948002004-03-19T00:20:00.000-05:002004-03-19T02:13:39.326-05:00NOT QUITE LAZY
Excuse my infrequent posts, devoted reader. You see, I have another blog called "Some Calzone for Derek" that occupies a lot of my non-working time. It's a shame, because it's although I enjoy writing about baseball, movies are, and remain, my true love.
The problem is while I find it relatively easy to peel off a couple hundred words about a given topic in baseball, I find it Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1078038076321219082004-02-29T01:51:00.000-05:002004-02-29T02:15:38.123-05:00YAWN
Oscars are today.
Do I care?
Not really.
It's taken me awhile, but I finally realise the Oscars having almost nothing at all to do with Artistic Merit or anything I really care about at the movies. I mean, come on. Scorsese has zero of them. Kubrick got zero. Hitchcock, zero. Hawks, zero. Sure, Spielberg has two, but they're for the wrong movies. (Now if he had won for Jaws, E.T.,Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1077944024978164922004-02-27T23:12:00.001-05:002004-02-29T01:53:22.890-05:00NOTES ON THE PASSION
Gibson's The Passion of the Christ opened on Wednesday at the Cumberland. I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch it from start to finish, but I've seen bits and pieces of it while at work.
Firstly, it really is quite violent. Nothing you wouldn't expect, just more extreme than you've probably imagined the Stations of the Cross. Some critics are calling it the most Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-107725505429309452004-02-20T00:18:00.000-05:002004-02-20T00:34:32.170-05:00THEY ARE ALL EQUAL NOW
I just discovered an impressive Stanley Kubrick website (actually, it's four websites, but go see for yourself).
For those of you who don't know, Kubrick was the first director who made me consciously aware that film and filmmaking could be an art (in retrospect, I suppose Spielberg was the first to make me unconsciously aware...). 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1076742494357111252004-02-14T02:01:00.000-05:002004-02-14T02:17:41.590-05:00"You can do almost anything on film now."
Another great interview, this time with Dogville master eccentric Lars von Trier, from the good people over at the Guardian Unlimited Film (for my money, the best general interest film site on the net).
This quote, at once ridiculous and profound, helps explain what von Trier was really trying to get with Dogma 95, and why he's seemingly ventured so Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1076218897449864222004-02-08T00:15:00.000-05:002004-02-08T03:23:48.763-05:00QUICK HITS
I promised a review of Monster, but I never got around to it and now it's no longer fresh in my mind. I can say that Theron does give a great performance, though. I'm still not sold on the prosthetics, and I think the filmmakers go overboard in details like when they show Aileen dressed in the worst ensembles when she goes job-hunting (and the predator motif on her regular clothes Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1075709448334109252004-02-02T02:57:00.000-05:002004-02-02T03:13:05.686-05:00INSPIRED
Inspired by Jonathan Rosenbaum's appreciation in the Guardian (and out of a desire to keep posting new content), here's my list of the ten greatest films ever made:
Sunrise (Murnau, 1927)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
M (Lang, 1931)
Bringing Up Baby (Hawks, 1938)
Ivan the Terrible, Parts I & II (Eisenstein, 1942-44)
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1074920355737968222004-01-23T23:51:00.000-05:002004-01-24T00:12:19.043-05:00NO SOUP FOR YOU
Reason #107 why I wouldn't make a good movie theatre manager: two "guests" (in Alliance-Atlantis/Famous Players parlance) demanded a refund after sitting through 15mins of The Corporation. Not because they accidentally mistook it for the Neve Campbell ballet drama, The Company. Not because they realised it was over 2 1/2hrs long. Not because the theatre was too cold, or the Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1074748688268592192004-01-21T23:29:00.000-05:002004-01-22T00:27:38.170-05:00MOON PIE
Sorry about the lack of reviews, folk. I'm not sure what my excuse is. I work at a movie theatre, I get to see everything they play there for free, there's a bunch of stuff playing there (and elsewhere) that I really want to see (Cold Mountain, Monster, House of Sand and Fog, The Corporation, Triplets of Belleville just off the top of my head), and I haven't sat down and seen a movie Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1074141348691465182004-01-14T23:33:00.000-05:002004-01-14T23:37:40.653-05:00MONSTER UPDATE
I didn't get a chance to see much of Monster, but I did see Ms. Theron. I understand how she gained 30lbs and still managed to look pretty slim in the movie. She's rail thin. Who thinks this is attractive?Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1074102360969108932004-01-14T12:35:00.000-05:002004-01-14T23:39:10.420-05:00"AN ORGASM IS BETTER THAN A BOMB"
Fox Searchlight has apparently changed its mind and is releasing Bernardo Bertolucci's May '68 drama, The Dreamers, uncut. Even better, Fox is releasing the film NC-17, rather than going the "unrated" route.
It'll be the first NC-17 theatrical film in nearly 7 years. (Of course in Ontario, we don't use the draconian MPAA rating system--not that the Ontario Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1074054999530543782004-01-13T23:31:00.000-05:002004-01-13T23:38:30.263-05:00CHARLIZE
I've received a tip that Charlize Theron will be at the Cumberland tomorrow for the preview screening of Monster.
The previews make it look like another Boys Don't Cry (I'm not sure how I feel about that), and I'm hoping that her characterization of Aileen Wuornos is a real performance, and not just a make-up aided stunt.Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1073970357215198532004-01-12T23:58:00.000-05:002004-01-13T00:11:31.560-05:00NOBODY NAILS 'EM LIKE BRUCE
The more people rave about the decent but slight Lost in Translation as if it were a revelatory work of greatness, the more I love Bruce LaBruce. Nobody can take the apart what's wrong with the latest zeitgeist movie like Bruce. (He was the only writer to really explain what was wrong with Boogie Nights, and I assumed at the time his insight was largely a result of Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1073547959770518282004-01-08T02:54:00.000-05:002004-01-08T02:54:35.133-05:00SLATE'S THE YEAR IN MOVIES
It's my favourite time of the year, when it's actually possible to find a decent amount of interesting film-related writing on the 'net. (While I've largely ceased caring who actually wins these awards anymore, the undying appeal of the Oscars always triggers the kind of year-end debates that have people thinking seriously about movies.)
Anyways, nobody does it Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1073373814888535032004-01-06T04:14:00.000-05:002004-01-06T05:04:43.700-05:00Bad Santa
written by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra
directed by Terry Zwigoff
*** (out of ****)
I feel lucky. I happen to like Terry Zwigoff's movies almost as much as I like the "idea" of Terry Zwigoff. On the basis of only two films, this middle-aged slub is my favourite director working in Hollywood, and this third does nothing to diminish my esteem of him. Sure, it doesn't reach the heightsJurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1070177377281567692003-11-30T02:22:00.000-05:002003-11-30T02:29:46.736-05:00QUICK HITS
I've seen the preview for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind about a thousand times now, and despite my reservations about Michel Gondry as a narrative filmmaker, I'm very optimistic about Jim Carrey finally finding the right project for his talents. Charlie Kaufman and Jim Carrey were made for each other. And the cast is great: Carrey, In the Bedroom's Jim Broadbent, Sam MendesJurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1066718519756506562003-10-21T02:40:00.001-04:002004-01-14T23:34:45.373-05:00Mystic River
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Brian Helgeland
*** (out of ****)
Eastwood's melodrama about the poison still infecting the lives of three childhood friends twenty-five years later is a throwback to the kind of picture Warner Bros. made in the 30s. (It's telling that Eastwood opens the film with a black and white version of the famous WB shield logo.) You can easily imagine Jurgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857247.post-1066105286228704812003-10-14T00:36:00.000-04:002004-01-16T00:50:19.466-05:00Kill Bill--Vol. 1
Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino
*** (out of ****)
The first full-length review I ever wrote was a piece on Quentin Tarantino's then new Reservoir Dogs back for my high school newspaper. I won't bore you by (or embarrass myself) quoting it here. Suffice it to say I was enthralled.
I'm not sure if it's because I'm older and my tastes have matured, but I wasn't Jurgennoreply@blogger.com