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Under discussion:

Why We Fight  (2004)

Why We Fight is an incredible, eye-opening, scary look at the United States of America. It's about who we are, who we've become, and how we got here.

Under discussion:

Babel  (2006)

William S. Burroughs is known to have said that "language is a virus from outer space", to which performance artist Laurie Anderson adds, "that's why I'd rather hear your name than see your face." Babel was really wonderful, but it was hard to watch.

Though the film is at once beautiful, genius, timely, and important, it's also like emotional nails on chalkboard. As you witness the characters suffer from ignorance and confusion, Babel lets you see just a little more than you want to about how things might unfold. This isn't a bad quality for the film, quite the opposite. It's gripping, but made me want to turn away. Further, I wanted it to lead me somewhere. I can take a lot of salt in the wound if I feel it's doing some good.

I don't need films tied up in a neat little bow any more than I need a happy ending, but Babel left me longing for some meaning. I wanted to learn something more obvious, to understand what  Iñárritu is trying to say about language, God, and human experience. Besides that languages and cultures collide and cause pain. But are we to learn something about language? Bad choices? Gun control? Human interconnectedness? I wonder if the film's title is too grandiose and possibly confuses the meaning of the story itself. I wonder if the film had a more Altman-esque, less assuming context, whether it would have appeared to accomplish more.

Under discussion:

Punch-Drunk Love  (2002)

Stranger Than Fiction  (2006)

Blades of Glory  (2007)

As much of a fan of Will Ferrell as I am, I'm starting to think that these movies are getting a little played out. Like other recent SNL alum Adam Sandler and Mike Meyers before him, his SNL schtick can only be extended into so many roles.

Thankfully, both Ferrell and Sandler have begun to move beyond these one-dimensional roles, as the best comedians do, blurring comedy and tragedy. Both Punch Drunk Love and Stranger Than Fiction are much better films than any of these actors' lighter fare. 

Still, Ferrell manages to pull it off again, with help from John Heder, and there are many memorable comedic moments here. Figure skating is an easy target, and what makes it most enjoyable is the real skaters who decided to take it in good humor and show up in cameos: Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton, and more. One moment not easily forgotten is Sasha Cohen being the lucky fan to catch Ferrell's jock strap.

Under discussion:

Art School Confidential  (2006)

While I had hoped for more from this film, Art School Confidential did what I had hoped - both remind me and parody my early years in college. It made me laugh! Though I did not go to art school per se, the first few years of the design cirriculum overlapped the art program. My first few studio classes - life drawing, art theory, etc., reminded me of this cast of self-righteous students and windy professors.

There were parts of this movie that were too slow, too humorless beneath the surface. More biting parody would've been more interesting to me. The movie got wrapped up in its own adolescent storyline, as if the filmmakers thought suddenly to inject a "serious" plot into an otherwise sketch of a film. Not that I would've preferred no plot, but I wanted it to be smarter, more original. The characters at times were too one dimensional. My memory of art school was that if anything, the people were even more serious, committed, desparite, crazy. More sex and substance abuse. Less squeaky clean. The realities of a group of 20-year-olds each with some sort of god complex.

Still, the movie depicts all the art school usual suspects perfectly, and though they're all stereotypes, I found myself thinking: I knew that guy! Suicidal girl in a black dress, boots, fingernail polish and makeup; nerdy art boy looking to score; hippe throwback dude; overintellectualized art theorist jerk - you can fill in the blanks. John Malkovich plays a crutial role as the burned out art prof, who spent 25 years figuring out that he was destined to paint triangles ("I was among the first," he proclaims).