azguki Blog

Under discussion:

The Happening  (2008)

  The Crappening.

Under discussion:

Barfly  (1987)

    I just finished writing my thoughts about Ask the Dust, John Fante's master novel adapted by Robert Towne, and it really was impossible for me to stop without sharing a few thoughts about Charles Bukowski.  The performances in this one are fantastic.  However, Mickey Rourke's take on the Bukowski alter-ego, Henry Chinaski, is more of an exaggerated charicature.  For a more subtle, and far more accurate, portrayal of the notorious poet look to Matt Dillion in Factotum.  I would expect the biggest complaint about this picture to be the screenplay itself.  For example, Michael Costello's observation at the bottom of this page reads: "What little story there is...."   I'm not sure if Costello was aware of Bukowski's correspondence with John Fante, but when Bukowski was asked to write the introduction to a new printing of Fante's Ask the Dust, he solicited the man himself for advice.  Fante was himself a successful Hollywood screen writer.  In his reply to Bukowski, he tells him the necessary details about the writing of the book and in closing offers a few words answering Bukowski's questions about screenplay writing.  I don't have the exact words in front of me, but it was something to this effect:  "That Frenchman who stands over your shoulder while you type sounds like a kook to me.  You are the writer.  They asked you to do the writing.  Write the most unorthodox script you can, the script that is most appealing to you." 

 Sage advice. 

Under discussion:

Grindhouse  (2007)

  What a fun show!!!  I had my doubts going into this one, but ended up having a great movie experience.  The stunts in Death Proof were out of %&$*@#!  control!!!    I found myself sincerely concerned for the poor woman on the hood of that car (the amazing ZOE BELL who couldn't care less) .  There are a ton of pure adrenline and tongue-in-cheek guilty pleasures here.  Enough to fill the Astrodome.  These guys are on top of their games and enjoying/ capitalizing on all of the freedom the weinsteins pour on them.  I love the way it said at the end of the Machete clip, "Brought to you by your friends at the weinstein company!"   Hysterical.  These guys can get away with anything.  I love it.    

Under discussion:

Sunshine  (2007)

     With the overabundance of talent working on this film, the end product should have been something far superior to what exists here.  The premise is fantastic (although way too soon of a time frame for the sun to be dying,try 6 billion years after it has swelled to a size that will engulf earth).  But astronomy mistakes aside, i am willing to suspend disbelief for a quality story, there was too much going on in this movie.  And the characters start dying before the audience gets a chance to get to know them, or even try to care about what happens to them.  And the end.....................SPOILER ALERT!...................is the guy from the other ship really there......is it his ghost........is it god.........too many questions for me.   By the end of the movie, I had no idea what had happened, or why.  Ambiguity is interesting, but sheer incoherence is annoying.

Under discussion:

Tideland  (2006)

    I have loved Terry Gilliam ever since I saw Time Bandits when i was like 14.  My automatic response whenever anyone asks that "Who is your favorite director?" question is always the same, Terry Gilliam.  It is quite safe to say that he is one of the most original directors of the last 20 years.  If Tideland is any indication of the direction he is currently going though, I'm afraid we may have lost him. 

I love weird.  I love weird.  Tideland is something beyond weird. 

Maybe I'll come back to that thought. 

I think the one thing that is most impressive about Gilliam's style is his constant ability to get completely unique performances out of his actors.  He does it every time.  If you think about Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys,  Heath Ledger in The Brothers Grimm, Johnny Depp and Benecio Del Toro in Fear and Loathing, and EVERYONE in The Fisher King, they are all completely unlike anything else you've ever seen from them. 

The performances in Tideland are top-notch.  It is pure entertainment.  However, it will not be accepted well by many in the theatre-going community. 

Under discussion:

Baise-Moi  (2001)

   I almost feel guilty for watching this one.....almost.  In the all time top charts for most offensive and difficult-to-watch films these eyes have ever seen, this one is right near the top (with one ot two others I dare not even mention).  Unlike most films that are daring and trying to test social morality through controversy, this one is completely void of any redeeming features (most have at least one).  I understand what the filmmaker was trying to do, but for contemporary films pushing the envelope (especially by means of unsimulated sex in cinema) 9 Songs or Shortbus are vastly superior. 

Under discussion:

Fay Grim  (2007)

      Maybe it's just me, but I could probably watch Parker Posey do anyting for 2 hours and not get bored (Party Girl excluded).  Hal Hartley is quite an intriguingly unique filmmaker as well.  That makes for a pretty solid combination.  However, this one was a little bland.    The style and the mood of the whole piece is cool and completely refreshing in its estrangement from modern filmmaking conventionality, but it is necessary to see HENRY FOOL (a truly exceptional film) before watching this one.  

AND THERE IS A SPOILER COMING FOR THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO AVOID IT!!!!! 

      My biggest problem with FAY GRIM (and there are not many problems with it), is that the entire movie is leading up to a promise that Fay will, at the end, be reunited with Henry, or at least have a face-to-face encounter with him.  That is what the entire plot built towards for myself.  That was going to be the big prize at the end of the game.  And it never came......................  I like Hal Hartley.  I like his style.   The Amateur is his best work (and a genuine masterpiece).  Unfortunately Fay Grim doesn't come close to its potential. 

Under discussion:

The Squid and the Whale  (2005)

   This is just a quality movie.  Noah Baumbach is probably too talented a writer to be making films though.  His mid-90's Kicking and Screaming was a borderline masterpiece and also about over-literate types in the same Whit Stillman-ish manner.  While that style makes for entertaining banter, however, it loses focus on film.  And, please, just completely disregard Baumbach's Mr. Jealousy (there was obviously something miscalculated about that production).   The Squid and the Whale is something new from Baumbach though.  It is a much more honest and harrowing side.  He allows the pace of the movie to carry it (no doubt a tip he picked up while collaborating with Wes Anderson on The Life Aquaitc).    This is as fine a film as I expect to see this summer. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney just get better and better all the time.   I expect Noah Baumbach to do greater things in the near future.