From My Collection: The Bourne Identity Movie Review

I’m revisiting the original trilogy of Bourne Movies after seeing Jason Bourne. I guess that’s backwards, but the inspiration didn’t strike until I found myself disappointed in the new movie. Seeing how frenetic the editing was, I felt that Paul Greengrass had taken his style to an extreme. I didn’t recall that the two he directed were similarly edited.

From My Collection: 25th Hour Movie Review

In 2002, New York City lay beaten and bruised, injured and left for dead but not without some bite left in her. Certainly the city was ready and willing to dole out punishment to anyone who intended harm again. It’s a lot like the dog Doyle at the opening of Spike Lee’s 25^th Hour. Someone has abused him, but he lashes out at Monty Brogan (Edward Norton), who only wants to help. Monty takes Doyle in and when the story picks up a year later, the dog is reasonably normal while the city is still reeling from catastrophe.

From My Collection - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Movie Review

Eowyn tests Aragorn's fealty to his beloved in The Two Towers.

As much as I loved The Fellowship of the Ring is as disappointed as I was in The Two Towers. Except in its magnificent closing epic battle, it failed to inspire a sense of awe. Everything I admired about the first film was largely absent in the second. This includes the focused storytelling that had as its centerpiece a group of men on a quest. Now the fellowship was fractured, it felt like three different stories. And the toggling back and forth left me feeling impatient and restless. I don't know that there was any way for screenwriters Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh to get around that. It's a style of 'cutting' that works fine in the format of a novel, but for a three hour plus film it grows tedious.

Jason X Movie Review

Just like with the previous film in the series eight years earlier, I only watched this for a sense of completion. Technically I shouldn't have even included it in this October series as it's meant to be a personal journey through my childhood memories of horror films, but I also wanted to list out all the deaths in the Friday the 13th series. Also, it just seemed wrong to leave this out. My friend and I rented this ten years ago and had good fun with it.

Click here for a list of all other films reviewed and considered for this October 2012 series of horror reviews.

I’m trying to imagine how the idea for Jason X was pitched to New Line Cinema in such a way that they were willing to give it a green light. Not only that, but it actually got a theatrical release. How do you think they sold an idea for Jason Voorhees to be frozen and then thawed out 450 years in the future so that he can continue his killing spree aboard a space ship? “Get this: Jason in space,” is the only phrase you would need, I suppose. And if that’s how it was presented, it’s no wonder that what came out the other end of production was the mind-blowingly bad film I just watched – for the second time! Yes, I watched it on a lark with a friend many years ago. How could we not? But I had blocked most of it out. Readers, I assure you that this is a true stinker with one minor – very minor – saving grace that I still found hysterical.

Important Cinema Anniversaries Marked in 2012

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Nueve reinas [Nine Queens] Movie Review: Argentine Mamet

One of my favorite sub-genres is the heist film. A common subset of that is the grifter film, which holds a place dear to my heart. Often the two are intertwined as in Ocean’s 11 or Heist by David Mamet, the master of the grifter genre. The Argentine film Nueve Reinas is a well-studied knock-off of Mamet’s films.

I’m beginning to develop a great appreciation for Argentine cinema, which continues an output of competently crafted and entertaining genre films (somehow always starring Ricardo Darín), the kind of well-made, well-written and popular fare Hollywood used to do regularly before scripts became a clothesline for special effects.

Frida Movie Review

This review was written at the end of 2002 with the intention of publishing it on a website that no longer exists. The unusual structure is a remnant of the requirements of that site. It is published here for the first time.

Synopsis: Biopic about the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The film chronicles her life in a series of anecdotes as she meets, falls in love with and marries fellow artist Diego Rivera. Kahlo endures a tragic accident that leaves her crippled for life. She uses the enduring pain to fuel her painting which expresses her dark and somber moods as well as the excitement she found in a life with Rivera. That excitement lasts only until she exposes his lack of fidelity and loyalty to her. Late in life, Kahlo and Rivera took in Leon Trotsky and his wife after they fled into exile in Mexico. The film suggests that an affair takes place between Kahlo and Trotsky. This becomes a way for her to hurt the man she loved and who hurt her more than the trolley accident that left her in physical pain for life.

Scoop: First I must admit that I knew next to nothing of Frida Kahlo's life or art before seeing director Julie Taymor's biopic Frida. I knew only that she was married to Diego Rivera, the Mexican artist who was a Socialist and once included a portrait of Lenin in a mural he painted in the lobby of Rockefeller Center (the mural was promptly destroyed).

Whether or not Taymor's vision of Kahlo, working from a screenplay by Gregory Nava (El Norte) and others, based on Hayden Herrera's book, is factually accurate is irrelevant. What matters is whether the material presented on screen makes for good film drama. The answer is a definitive "Yes."

Panic Room Movie Review

I’ve said recently in relation to The Social Network that director David Fincher is a talent I’ve been following closely since his second feature film Seven. He is one of the most original and unique directors of genre films working in Hollywood. Whether it’s the science-fiction horror of Alien 3 or the detective thriller of Zodiac, Fincher imbues each of his films with a distinctive visual style. You’ll never doubt that you’re watching one of his films.

Fincher has also been one of the best filmmakers at employing digital effects to enhance his stories, rather than as a means of shorthand. He uses CGI in places you’d never imagine. I was stunned to discover how much of Zodiac was shot against green screen. The seams are invisible. Although he employed a great deal of CGI in Fight Club it was Panic Room where it became obvious how much he relied on it. Most of the camera set ups and movements would not be physically possible without digital tricks.

Top Ten of 2002

This list was made in early 2003, but posted on 18 April 2014 and backdated to 1 January 2003.

1. About Schmidt dir. Alexander Payne

2. Adaptation dir. Spike Jonze

3. Hable con ella (Talk to Her) dir. Pedro Almodovar

4. Y tu mamá también (And Your Mother Too) dir. Alfonso Cuaron

5. Minority Report dir. Steven Spielberg

6. 25th Hour dir. Spike Lee

7. Road to Perdition dir. Sam Mendes

8. The Pianist dir. Roman Polanski

9. Far From Heaven dir. Todd Haynes

10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets dir. Chris Columbus

All films seen from 2002 (based on US commercial release dates)

* review available on this site

+ from my collection

titles in bold received at least one Oscar nomination

24 Hour Party People dir. Michael Winterbottom

+*25th Hour dir. Spike Lee

8 Mile dir. Curtis Hanson

About a Boy dir. Chris and Paul Weitz

About Schmidt dir. Alexander Payne

Adaptation dir. Spike Jonze

All or Nothing dir. Mike Leigh

Antwone Fisher dir. Denzel Washington

Austin Powers in Goldmember dir. Jay Roach

Auto Focus dir. Paul Schrader

Barbershop dir. Tim Story

Big Fat Liar dir. Shawn Levy

+The Bourne Identity dir. Doug Liman

Bowling for Columbine dir. Michael Moore

The Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups) dir. Christophe Gans

Catch Me If You Can dir. Steven Spielberg

Changing Lanes dir. Roger Michell

Chicago dir. Rob Marshall

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind dir. George Clooney

The Count of Monte Cristo dir. Kevin Reynolds

El Crimen del Padre Amaro dir. Carlos Carrera

Death to Smoochy dir. Danny DeVito

Die Another Day dir. Lee Tamahori

Dog Soldiers dir. Neil Marshall

Far From Heaven dir. Todd Haynes

Femme Fatale dir. Brian De Palma

The Four Feathers dir. Shekhar Kapur

Frailty dir. Bill Paxton

*Frida dir. Julie Taymor

Gangs of New York dir. Martin Scorsese

Hable con ella (Talk to Her) dir. Pedro Almodóvar

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets dir. Chris Columbus

El Hijo de la novia (Son of the Bride) dir. Juan José Campanella Oscar nomination was for Foreign Language Film in the previous year

Hollywood Ending dir. Woody Allen

The Hours dir. Stephen Daldry

Hysterical Blindness dir. Mira Nair

Igby Goes Down dir. Burr Steers

Insomnia dir. Christopher Nolan

Italian for Beginners (Italiensk for begyndere) dir. Lone Scherfig

*Jason X dir. James Isaac

Kissing Jessica Stein dir. Charles Herman-Wurmfeld

Lilo & Stitch dir. Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

+*The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers dir. Peter Jackson

Lovely & Amazing dir. Nicole Holofcener

+Lucía y el sexo dir. Julia Medem

Max dir. Menno Meyjes

Minority Report dir. Steven Spielberg

Monsoon Wedding dir. Mira Nair

Moonlight Mile dir. Brad Silberling

My Big Fat Greek Wedding dir. Joel Zwick

Narc dir. Joe Carnahan

*Nueve reinas (Nine Queens) dir. Fabián Bielinsky

Nicholas Nickleby dir. Douglas McGrath

No Such Thing dir. Hal Hartley

One Hour Photo dir. Mark Romanek

+*Panic Room dir. David Fincher

The Pianist dir. Roman Polanski

The Piano Teacher (La Pianniste) dir. Michael Haneke

+Punch-Drunk Love dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

The Quiet American dir. Phillip Noyce

Rabbit-Proof Fence dir. Phillip Noyce

Red Dragon dir. Brett Ratner

The Ring dir. Gore Verbinski

+Road to Perdition dir. Sam Mendes

Roger Dodger dir. Dylan Kidd

The Rookie dir. John Lee Hancock

Russian Ark (Russkij kovcheg) dir. Aleksandr Sokurov

Secretary dir. Steven Shainberg

Signs dir. M. Night Shyamalan

Solaris dir. Steven Soderbergh

The Son's Room (La stanza del figlio) dir. Nanni Moretti

Spellbound dir. Jeffrey Blitz

Spider dir. David Cronenberg

Spider-Man dir. Sam Raimi

Spirited Away (Sen to chihiro no kamikakushi) dir. Hayo Miyazaki

Star Trek: Nemesis dir. Stuart Baird

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones dir. George Lucas

Storytelling dir. Todd Solondz

The Sum of All Fears dir. Phil Alden Robinson

Sunshine State dir. John Sayles

Sweet Home Alabama dir. Andy Tennant

Unfaithful dir. Adrian Lyne

Van Wilder dir. Walt Becker

Windtalkers dir. John Woo

+Y tu mamá también (And Your Mother Too) dir. Alfonso Cuarón