Dogs Bark

Just Drawn That Way - - This Gun For Hire (1942) - - 28 Dec 2007

Strongly recommended. This Gun For Hire, scripted by the brilliant W.R. Burnett, is one of the best early examples of the confluence of German expressionism and the Warner Brothers crime movies that became film noir in the 40’s and 50’s. Alan Ladd - - the gun - - imbues Raven with a chilling and surreal absence of affect, quite daring for a not-yet star. Veronica Lake (the first Mrs. Rabbit) presents a tentative but enticing fatale, which she would flesh out in two subsequent and classic noirs co-starring Ladd. And Laird Cregar is simply divine as the sissy villain, nibbling peppermints as he plots - - but cringes from - -  murder. To the current day, all these usual suspects would reappear in the movies . The final scenes, in a deserted factory full of shadows and odd angles, complete Noir 101. A pic not to be missed if you love this genre.

One Good Man - - Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) - - 25 Dec 2007

Strongly recommended. What was that little brouhaha back in the 90's? Something about slutty interns? Competence vs. dignity? Charlie Wilson’s War must be scripter Aaron Sorkin’s revenge for that ruckus, making a good argument that a boozy, skirt-chasing liberal Democrat was the real guy that broke the Soviet Empire. Mike Nichols’s near-perfect direction of the script, backed by a splendid cast, seems to echo the theme by providing one of the most masterful comedies of the year . . . possibly also the most astonishing magic trick of the year. In scene after scene, the audience is cheering the same Afghan tribesmen who would, twenty years later, be organizing the Taliban. One could almost play “Where’s Osama” with the crowd scenes (shot in Morocco). And the irony of Wilson’s only enemy being . . . no, won’t spoil it. So things changed forever after 9/11, eh? We’ll see. . .

Ain’t Like The Old Days, But It’ll Do - - The Wild Bunch (1968) - - 21 Dec 2007

An essential. The Wild Bunch is Sam Peckinpah’s retelling of one of the great universal stories - - an homage to John Huston, among others. And a great story, like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, is a contest between the first and last sentence. In this spirit, the opening sequence of The Wild Bunch is one of the most carefully and expertly constructed ten minutes of filmmaking ever created. A close second is the final ten minutes. Notice the minimal principal dialogue, from Bill Holden’s initial gritty command to the final shot of both sequences. Music, cuts, and expression - - the essence of montage - - are the only tools needed. I’ll leave the rest to the semiotes but it also signifies the stunning musical work of Jerry Golding and Lucien Ballard’s camera work. Any serious filmmaker should memorize the first and last lines of this movie.

 

Don't Drink the Saliva - - 28 Weeks After - - 16 Dec 2007

Not recommended. Although I rather liked 28 Days After, the sequel sucks. Here'€™s the deal. If you write a horror story with huge implausibility scatter throughout, an audience will sometimes buy that. But lead characters acting implausibly, particularly early on, turns people off faster than a zombie can claw open a kitchen door.  How can you be terrified if you don't care who eats who? 28 Weeks After opens with a spectacularly scary 28-minute attack that had my companion crawling up my leg.  Robert Carlyle was superb.  When the plot advances 196 days to the US occupation of London, guess what? Situation normal, all fucked up. Carlyle'€™s character contains a very realistic flaw that never really gets resolved by the plot. A shame, since it would have helped me identify with him.  BTW, the joke at the end? Lame. Saw it coming for at least 28 seconds.

 

Buck, Naked - - Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song - - 10 Dec 2007

Not recommended. This one is only for the very hard core. The pic opens with a 10-year old Black boy mounting a 30-something Black prostitute and bringing her to rapid orgasm, thus establishing the legend of Sweet Sweetback. Melvin Van Peebles says that the inclusion of X-rated sex in Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song was necessary to get his revolutionary message across to the brothers. Huey Newton  apparently agreed. Well excuse my skinny white ass but isn’t that itself pretty racially demeaning? The bottom line is that the movies production values and acting are so egregious that it’s almost unbearable. Much of the movie is photographed in darkness and is impossible to follow. In 1971, no movie like this had ever been made. It was important. But with Spike Lee and John Singleton saying very much the same thing in proper film grammar, why do we need this malarkey?

Prew Would Go - - From Here To Eternity - - 07 Dec 2007

An Essential. Because this movie is so important to the history of Hollywood and the actors in the movie, one aspect of From Here to Eternity gets overlooked. This is one of the best movies ever made about pre-WWII Oahu from an even more important book about the same. The locations used in the movie are amazingly exact. For example, if you were heading to Koko Head from Wilhelmina Rise you would have to cross Waialae Golf Course, as Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) does in the climax. The set design in the clubs, Lorene’s (Donna Reed) apartment, the military buildings are also uniquely accurate. Credit goes to director Fred Zinnemann, and art directors, Cary Odell and Frank Tuttle. Zinnemann’s brilliance is that this authenticity, including the work of cameramen Burnett Guffey and Floyd Crosby, compliments a great story and talented acting. If you love Hawaii, you should see this picture.

We All Came out of Something - - The Namesake - - 3 Dec 2007

Recommended. In The Namesake, director Mira Nair returns to familiar themes of family, migration, and longing but here constructs a more universal statement on the strange way we happen to be born and the complex people who do the deed. Gogol Ganguli is the tortuous name bestowed . . . with a backstory reflecting the father’s own transcendence. Irrfan Khan plays that father expertly, suggesting a lifetime of images in a gesture. Sabu, as his wife, matches him as they age through 30 years of married life. As Gogol, Kal Penn shows occasional skills but Eurasian actress Zuleikha Robinson (Mrs. Gogol) burns up the screen. Unfortunately her part is small and not well developed. Writer Sooni Taraporevala seems overworked - - the American characters verge on stereotype, an offense missing from past collaborations with Nair. But despite these flaws, the story moves with charm throughout an engaging couple of hours.