The 18 best films I've seen in the last 250. part 6

#9: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)
Excellent anti-Bond film with Richard Burton absolutely nailing the multi-layered role of the burned out secret agent.  This movie actually takes the time it needs to be fully realized and it provides a stark atmosphere that absorbs you into the film.  The final scene is a perfect finale to a wonderful drama.  And the "courtroom" scene is perfectly tense.

#8: Out of the Past (1947)
A wonderful film noir! It's got all the right elements: the femme fatale, the suave but flawed mob boss, the winding plot line, and Robert Mitchum.  And man is he ever fun to watch in this one! His stoner eyes and cynical attitude fits the character perfectly.
The plot is worth following, even if at the time it appears to be going nowhere.  It's all worth the journey at the end.  And the dialogue! Wonderful back-and-forth that puts heist and action films of today to shame.

#7: Happy Go Lucky (2008)
A wonderful performance by Sally Hawkins (who should've been up for Best Actress) and a great, plainly spoken script that really captures the annoying, yet lovable, character of this 30-something kindergarten teacher.  It's a lot of fun slowly getting to know her in this film.  It's hard to start off looking annoying and immature and end up being lovable at the end.  There are a lot of scenes where I wasn't sure whether to laugh but I got over that pretty quick and ended up laughing my head off all through the second time watching it.
There are several spot-on tender scenes that take this comedy to another level.  A truly great film that gets better every time I think about it.

#6: Destry Rides Again (1939)
You can read a previously posted review for this here.

#5: Rachel Getting Married (2008)
You can read a previously posted review for this here.

#4: One Two Three (1961)
One of Billy Wilder's funniest and greatest achievements.  Every joke hits its mark and they come every 5 seconds.  Why this isn't as popular and "Some Like it Hot" or "The Apartment" is beyond me.  James Cagney plays one of the greatest roles of his career (and his last starring role) and the supporting cast compliments him perfectly.
And all of that doesn't even mention the satirical view on communism and capitalism and how we're all basically the same.  Nothing is sacred here as Nazism, infidelity, and treason are all laughed at.  Just watch the darn thing.  I can't imagine a sane person not getting enjoyment out of this iron curtain romp.

#3: White Heat (1949)
You can read a previously posted review for this here.

#2: The Dark Knight (2008)
You can read a previously posted review for this here.

So, that leaves just one victim of overselling and diminishment left to go...

The 18 best films I've seen in the last 250. part 5

#10: Gilda (1946)... or, Why I Love Glenn Ford
I dread writing about this movie.  Not because it's not worth discussing (obviously) or because it's a deep story that's hard to put into words.  I just loved it so much that I'm afraid to sum it up with a small amount of memories and opinions.  This disservice has already been committed by the short attention span of Americans that only ever recall one or two scenes from this rich and highlight-packed film.  Most people have seen a scene from this film without knowing it.  In "The Shawshank Redemption" Morgan Freeman hoots at the scene you first see Rita Hayworth in where she flips her hair back.  But this film works best as a whole, and what a wonderful movie experience it was!
Glenn Ford is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors.  I've only seen him in five or so movies but the diversity in his roles has been incredible.  I was first introduced to him by the 1950 film "Convicted".  It's not the greatest prison film and I didn't actually find his acting all that great at the time.  He seemed like he was either an awkward actor who was lucky to be involved in so many classic films or a good actor who could play an out-of-place prisoner with mixed emotions.  I now know it was the latter.  After his entertaining comedic performance in "The Gazebo", I knew there was more to this baby-face.  Then in "The Big Heat", Ford juggles portraying a tough-as-nails cop and a sweet family man.  And in the last act of the film he goes through a successful transition becoming a vigilante bent on revenge.  It's obvious to me now that it was the studios that were lucky to have this dynamic and diverse actor and not vise-versa.  And I recently saw the original "3:10 to Yuma" where he was offered the part of the protaganist and wanted to be a bad guy instead for the challenge.  In "Gilda" he plays a grifter-turned-big league casino tycoon and never makes you doubt it for a second.  I've praised him enough so I won't go into other reasons why I'm really starting to look up to this guy.  Look him up on wikipedia though.  It's interesting how much of a Jack of all trades he was.  Especially for an actor!
The script is so dark and witty that it's a wonder that this film isn't mentioned along side other noir greats.  So many scenes stood out, but one always worth mentioning is the scene with Rita Hayworth's despairing "strip tease".  But I won't further encapsulate it like others have.  Just trust me and watch it.

The 18 best films I've seen in the last 250. part 4

#14: Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)
You can't fault this movie for being slow or inconsistent.  It is what it is and you're either along for the ride or you're sitting in disgust.  Statham turns out another great action performance in a movie that could be viewed more as a stoner comedy than an action-adventure.  It manages to stay true to the original and surpasses it in every way possible.  The godzilla fight, the burning skin, the race track scene, the tongue/car boost, the talk show with Geri Halliwell.  It all comes together and takes the film to a rare place where it's self-referential, existential, and still endlessly entertaining.  Definitely not for everyone, definitely for me.  Hooray for excess to the nth degree!

#13: Wall-E (2008)
Pixar's most creative, thought-provoking, and touching film may be too slow for toddlers (but judging by DVD sales I don't think it was) but should be pitch-perfect for anyone else whose ticker is still ticking.  Wall-E is adorable and hilarious.  The movie takes amazingly unpredictable turns.  A friend of mine says it has the best love story in the last decade which is probably true.  Some people say it's too preachy, but seriously! It's a kids movie and kids will love it.  The preachiness is aimed at adults and it's really not that bad.  With the world being so green now, a few years from today it'll probably be seen as having a relatively tame message.  Bit of a spoiler here: I loved that the people in the movie have less personality than the robots.  I also loved the army of malfunctioning robots.  And watch how Wall-E puts on his tracks in the morning.  I love that he's not a morning person.
I laughed so hard I cried at "Presto", the animated short preceeding the movie.  All in all, a great theatrical experience that I hope Pixar revives in the future like it recently did with Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

#12: Synecdoche New York (2008)
You can read a previously posted review for this here.

#11: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Hepburn, Stewart, and Grant are like the over-romantic, screwed up, alcoholic friends I never had.  The writing is top notch and the acting, especially Hepburn's, is a great fusion of screwball and realism.

The 18 best films I've seen in the last 250. part 3

#15: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Wonderful, wonderful romp through three British wars is beautifully shot and written with equal parts whimsy and zest.  Too many favorite moments come flooding into my head at once: The war games in the bath house, the orchestra playing for beer, the hunting trophy time lapse sequences.  All around a great film worthy of its fame.  Way way way ahead of its time with how it used color and its methods of historical fiction.

The 18 best films I've seen in the last 250. part 2

#16: La Ronde (1950)
Dear Max Ophuls,
I have no idea who you are or where you've been all my life, but man do you ever know how to make a romantic comedy.  Directors today could learn a lot from you since not only do most romantic comedies today have very little originality and skill, they also know nothing about the heart.  I say heart instead of love because I think we both know there's very little real love involved in La Ronde.  That's not a criticism of your work though.  No, it's one of the many miracles in this film.  The characters are all so sleazy and selfish that they wouldn't even feel comfortable in an episode of Seinfeld.  In yet it's still such a sweet and tender tale.
One of my favorite scenes is the bedroom scene with the husband and wife.  It's just so funny and real.  We know he's cheating on her and it's so fun to see how he deludes himself into still seeing minor faults in others.  We must both know people like that for us to find that funny.  Or maybe we're looking at our own hypocrisy.
There are many other hilariously cute additions to the story that stuck out to me.  Such as when the carousel breaks down due to a lover's inadequacies.  Or when the ringmaster sings the word "censored" after interrupting a love scene.
Your movie truly is as charming as an ill-moralled movie can be.

The 18 best films I've seen in the last 250. part 1

As of this week, I have been keeping notes on 250 new-to-me movies that I've seen since February 2008.  Not all of them got full reviews.  In fact some of them were summed up in a mere sentence.  The "reviews" I've been posting on this site so far are second drafts of these scribblings.  Being a list-obsessed individual, I decided to make a list of the best ones from this time period.  After over-analyzing the titles, 18 seems to be the perfect amount...


#18: Paths of Glory (1957)
Stanley Kubrick's war trial film is brilliantly shot, excellently acted (Kirk Douglas in one of his most powerful performances), and emotional, but not forced, in its execution.  A timeless war story and a beautiful parable of responsibility and punishment.  The walk to the firing squad is tense and glorious.

#17: Cat People (1942)
Fear of the unknown and unseen is the key here.  And it couldn't have been tackled better stylistically.  Simone Simon's performance is perfectly under-dramatic and Jacques Tourneur's use of feline imagery is subtle and timeless.  Hitchcock must have loved this film... and possibly was inspired by it.

An early movie related memory that's always stuck with me #1.

I'm in my grade 6 home room class.  We're discussing plans for our field trip to Drumheller.  Our teacher asks us if anyone has any movies they could bring for the drive and all the other kids are shouting out movie titles such as Top Gun, Backdraft, and whatever chick flicks and action movies were out at the time.  I raise my hand in an attempt to both fit in and be helpful.  I announce to the class that I could bring along my dad's Gunsmoke, Rawhide, and Beverly Hillbillies VHS tapes (three of the only things even resembling movies that we had in our house at the time).  The entire class laughs their asses off and Mr. Zalaski tries his hardest to calm everyone down while trying not to laugh himself.  I'm not embarrassed because I don't get what's so funny.

I feel like I've come a long way.

Terminator: Salvation (2009) 3/4

For all its bad press, in some ways this is the best Terminator film.  Terminator 2, for all its glorious special effects does still look a little dated today and liquid machines are nonsensical no matter how much I leave my senses at bay.  And I'd rather sit through the last 45 minutes of Return of the King than sit through Arnold being lowered into the lava any day.  If I want that much melodrama, I won't put on an action movie, I'll watch Coronation Street.

The first Terminator film had a lot of imagination and introduced us to the Arnold we know and love.  But it had some very slow scenes and the special effects were atrocious.  The stop motion and model ship stuff in the flash-forward scenes are the best examples of this.  You can't even blame the time period or the budget for that because, come on! It was the 1980s, not the Ray Harryhausen 1950s.

The third film wasn't too bad.  It had Arnold at top form and the car chase with the picker truck was awesome.  But the scene where Arnold is trying to stop himself from attacking Nick Stahl should make even the most forgiving action fan roll their eyes.  The film did however patch up some of the continuity problems from the second film.

And now there's Terminator: Salvation, the fourth in the series.  It has great special effects and acting and a pretty decent script too.  This time at least it didn't feel like it was written by a twelve year old.  The first three films left a lot of hard-to-connect plot lines and Salvation meshes them as well as anyone could have hoped.  When it came to discussions of time travel I was able to suspend my disbelief with a lot more ease than with the first films.  And I wasn't left feeling ripped off from lack of action sequences.  So well done, McG, you've pulled off a hard feat.

Rachel Getting Married (2008) 4.1/4

This is another great example of a movie that changed the way I look at life.  It's so easy to judge people based on your first conversation with them, or to sum up a person's entire existence with one mindless sentence of gossip.  This movie forces the audience to judge all the characters in the first act and then judges the viewer throughout the rest of the film.  We go through many opinion shifts through the course of the story.  I started off hating Anne Hathaway's spoiled, irritating character, then hating her dad.  And by the end, when I understood them better, my sympathies and respect changed entirely.  What a powerfully realistic story of a family!

Jonathan Demme does his best Robert Altman impression and while there's nothing new about the style of filmmaking, it still manages to feel so fresh and full of life.  The supporting cast deserves a lot of credit for this.  And Anne Hathaway has never been better.  She definitely deserved the Oscar more than Kate Winslet.  It was a lot of fun to see Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio in the role of the groom.  His character doesn't seem to say or do much, but that's exactly what a groom's job is: suit up, show up, and shut up.

"Rachel Getting Married" took me on a surprisingly cathartic journey.  Instead of relying on a narrator, flashbacks, or forced back story to explain the family's dysfunctions, we learn about them through the way they interact with each other.  Just like in (gasp!) real life.  Easily the best wedding movie I've ever seen.  Welcome back, Jonathan Demme!

Being a movie lover in Calgary isn't always easy...

In fact, today I had to hang my head in shame.  I went to calgarymovies.com like I often do to see what's playing around town and saw an article on the main page titled, "Citizen Kane Can Suck It".  It's not surprising to stumble onto such naive statements when browsing the internet but it came from the site's leading contributor, a guy that goes by "S. Tran".  I found the article too frustrating to finish, but if you're curious, you can find it here.

The article reminded me of a statement that Roger Ebert made recently in his blog about how we are living in a Dark Age of mainstream film.  If S. Tran is saying what many others today are thinking, Ebert save us!

Destry Rides Again (1939) 4.1/4

Jimmy Stewart comes blazing into town to save the day, armed to the teeth, with a sinister glower.  Actually, he shows up unarmed, carrying a birdcage and a parasol, and order milk at a bar.  Not your typical western hero.  It would eventually become a typical role for Stewart to play, but here it feels so fresh.
Marlene Dietrich plays an old-west bar-floozy to a T (not that I'm an expert on old-west bar-floozies) in one of her most wonderfully dynamic roles.  In one memorable scene she scams a man at poker and then tells the man's wife "he would rather be cheated by me than married to you".  Classic!
Another great quotable line is when Stewart tells a dying man who feels he is dying without honor, "That's how they shot my father.  They didn't dare face him either."
The ethical statement of taking on an anarchic old west town unarmed can be applied to any time period.  And it's written, directed, and performed so well that it's a wonder the American Film Institute insists on ignoring it.
The climax to the film starts off like many other westerns, with men assembling on both sides for a big final shootout.  But it's broken up by housewives armed with rolling pins and rakes.  And that doesn't even spoil the touching resolve.  A western from Hollywood's golden year way ahead of its time that needs to be seen!

Synecdoche New York (2008) 4.1/4

As we entered the theatre, a sign told us there would be scratches throughout the film.  This flaw was much less annoying than others I've experienced.  (Watching "The Fountain" with a misaligned projector always comes to mind.)  Including us, there were only a dozen people in the theatre, which didn't stop a large, white-haired, big bearded man sporting a red jacket (no reindeer though) from forcing us to stand up so he could get to a seat that would have had just as good a vantage point as several others.  Arrogance, thy name is Santa.

Even with "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" under his belt, Charlie Kaufman has managed to make an even more self- referential and existential film.  Has he exhausted his resources and is now making the same movie over and over? Or has he stumbled onto something brilliant by encouraging us to look at ourselves as an outsider; documenting and analyzing our decisions and actions? I think it's the latter.  And what an analysis it is! All aspects of day-to-day living are dissected, from the exciting to the most mundane, including therapy, bathroom time, sex, etc.  And it's all done in such a unique and surreal way.

We left the theatre, slightly confused and overwhelmed.  I couldn't help but wonder how my life would look being acted out.  Also, I still can't help but wonder if Charlie Kaufman put up the sign in the theatre about the lines.

The Planet of the Apes Sequels: the regression of an intelligent concept

Whether you enjoy it or roll your eyes at the mention of it, it's hard to deny that Planet of the Apes is an important, creative, and smart movie. I happened to enjoy it for its challenging questions about how we treat other species surrounding us, how we look at the world we live in, and ya gotta love that fantastic twist ending. So I, like many others before me, decided to suffer through the progressively inferior sequels until I felt like I too was regressing. I watched as the films transformed me into a Homo neanderthalensis (which must also have been the state of the hacks that produced the last two films). It's been over a year now since my unfortunate experience and I feel I'm recovered enough to finally discuss it. Keep in mind that everything here on in is a major spoiler zone.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) 2.5/4
This movie answers the assumed plot-hole question from the first film: If apes evolved to speak, why did humans go through regression? Well, the evolved human community lives underground in New York's subway tunnels and they pray to an atomic bomb. And just like all over-evolved humans do in science fiction, they use telekinesis. While this film was a good attack on religion, it's disjointed and pretty corny. Charlton Heston shows up and is in all his over-dramatic glory. In some ways it has an even more shocking ending than the first film. In fact, it's pretty damn hard to get any more shocking.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) 2/4
It's not as good as the first two, but it's oodles better than the final two. I can just see them in the writer's room in 1970... "So, we blew up Earth in the second film, but we discovered we have an audience... looks like it's time for time travel". And so they did. While the delivery could have been better, this movie actually brings to light some interesting topics that are only allegorical in the first film. The tables turn and the exhibitor becomes the exhibit. I found the inevitable POTA shock ending in this one to be too predictable. I did however like the concept of the infinite loop of time travel (as depicted in the painting). It was a much more confusing, but somehow more satisfying explanation than the one that replaces it in the fourth film. Although it still doesn't explain how gorillas and orangutans develop speech and self-awareness as depicted in the first film.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) 1/4
And now the story starts its sucking. In the fourth entry they destroy the overall canon by taking cool ideas from the first three films and then they simplify and misinterpret them. Problem #1: If the offspring of the time travelling chimps is the beginning of ape intelligence through an infinite paradoxical loop, why are other apes talking by the end of this movie? Problem #2: It's obvious these writers aren't thinking globally when one little battle is supposed to have forced humans underground worldwide. Yes, this film has a shiny little allegory for the problems associated with slavery. But the script blows, the directing and acting are just awful, and even though I watched it on TV, just thinking about it makes me want to ask someone for my money back.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) 0/4 [AWFUL]
The film opens with some monkey called the Lawgiver in 2670AD telling the story we're about to see. And he's played by none other than JOHN F'ING HUSTON! How did they con him into teaming up with this mess? A couple years have gone by since the events in the fourth film and all the apes are somehow already communicating at an adult level. And the couple dozen humans who survived the fourth film (worldwide, apparently) are out to get their revenge. Aagh, it just makes me so mad thinking about what this film looked like and how bad the acting and script were. Absolute rubbish! The ultimate destroyer of this sinking series which in hindsight should have either went in a different direction at the end of the second film or ended after the third.

If you're reading this and you enjoyed the first film, watch the second and third AND DON'T YOU DARE WATCH THE LAST TWO! Or just be content with only seeing the first film and find a better way to spend your time. Get your recommended dosage of sci-fi by renting Gattaca, Metropolis or Dark City. And leave the apes for your friendly neighborhood evolutionary biologist to deal with.

I Vitelloni (1953) 4.1/4

Watching a buddy movie that keeps your attention, connects you to the characters, and speaks to your heart is a surprising and great experience. When the film in question is from the 1950's and is still identifiable today, it's a damn miracle.
This was Federico Fellini's first commercially successful film and while it isn't the style of film-making that made him famous, it's still a great example of his creative genius.
An example of the brilliance of this film is the character Fausto. It's amazing that such a repulsive, id-centered person doesn't ruin the film or make it ridiculous. Instead he is somehow almost lovable. I was hoping for more poetic justice against him, but the way it stands works because it's just so funny.
Fellini was always ahead of his time, but in this film he didn't need fantasies, dream sequences, elaborate sets, or hallucinatory freak-outs to display his prophetic approach to directing. It's shown through honest dialogue, fluid structure, attention to detail, and heart. You know he cares deeply for each of these five loafers.
The last five minutes of the film was the highlight for me. I loved the train panning past their beds as Moraldo leaves their lifestyle forever. I also loved the seamless fusion of comedy and tragedy. Alberto dressed in drag while heart-broken by his sister deserting him is a great example of this (and an early example of Fellini's obsession with the nature of clowns).
It's hard to believe a movie like this preceded "Diner" and "Swingers" by thirty years and isn't always mentioned side by side with other Fellini masterpieces. I found this film relatable, laugh out loud funny, cry out loud tragic, and a pivotal event in the evolution of the "buddy" film.

The Dark Knight (2008) 4.1/4

Sure, it's only been a year since The Dark Knight came out but I don't think it's too soon to say it's the best superhero film ever made. The only other contender I can think of would be Batman Begins since it set the style and voice for this new Batman series. If you're finding this hard to digest, just re-watch any Superman film or a Tim Burton Batman film and you will no doubt see how far this genre has come in the past decade. The superheroes are no longer one dimensional. The villains' evil is a lot more believable and not always black and white. And it has very recently become a respectable sub-genre of adventure films. One exception would be the Superman Returns atrocity, but it's possible I never was a big Superman fan to begin with. I'm probably not a proper Batman fan either. On a recent tour of Warner Brothers studios, I spent a lot more time drooling over the new bat-car and bat-bike than the classic 1989 model.
Christopher Nolan, while remaining an expert in twists and captivation, takes his skills of suspense and surprise to new levels. The game-changers in the script are no longer the focal driving force in the plot like in Memento, Following, The Prestige, or even Batman Begins. Now it's a minor character; an exciting member of the supporting cast coming out for its cameo at the most opportune times. One element that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight shared was the ability to make the films appear to be concluding, only to have an entire extra act and an exciting unexpected climax. Just when I thought the movies were finished and resolved, they continued and kept getting better and better.
Nolan made brave decisions with the role of the Joker. He didn't have any of the elements that were relied on so heavily in the comics and the Tim Burton Batman film. There were no carnival scenes, no laughing gas, and aside from the masked henchmen and joker cards, there were no clown or magic gimmicks altogether. The movie even pokes fun of this fact when Ledger performs his one and only magic trick involving a pencil in a murder that's both shocking and funny. The Joker is totally stripped of what we expect to see in Batman's archenemy. And it works because of Heath Ledger. I can't imagine another actor in the role. In such a short time, it's become a legendary performance. Would it still be that way if he hadn't died? It's hard to say. I like to think that I stay relatively uninfluenced by media hype and performer's personal lives. And I can honestly say his performance is one of the best I've ever seen. I've seen the film several times and I can't for the life of me see Heath Ledger at any point in the film. He IS the Joker.
And I didn't even mention the incredible advances in prop construction, IMAX camera filming techniques, and the even more incredible lack of computer special effects used in the film. But I didn't need to. This too is just a supporting role in a film that uses character study, acting, and a rock solid script as its foundation.
I think it's difficult to have not seen this movie yet, but in case you haven't, I won't reveal any of the great surprises that are revealed in the film. Even after the ridiculous amount of hype and exaggeration surrounding this film, it WILL be remembered and revered for decades to come.

White Heat (1949) 4.1/4

I LOVED White Heat. James Cagney is at the top of his game as a mob boss like nothing seen on screen before or since. His performance and the rich, blunt, twist-filled script puts this movie in among the greats.
The film wastes no time with explanation as it begins at the onset of a train heist orchestrated by Cody (James Cagney) and his gang. We witness his viciousness early on as he kills two conductors in cold blood for hearing his first name.
With many surprises ahead, this synopsis should be seen as a spoiler. Heck, the rest of this review. Trust me and watch this movie and then come back and read the rest.

To escape murder accusations, Cody opts for another robbery that was committed on the same day in order to get a reduced sentencing. In prison, one of Cody's cellmates is an undercover cop trying to get the identity of Cody's overseas money changer.
While in prison, a member of Cody's gang, Big Ed, takes Cody's position and his wife. The relationship between Cody and his mother is fascinating. He gets debilitating headaches that started at childhood as a ruse but over time have become real. His mother is very much the woman in his life and the attention he gets from her is truly a need.
The three act structure of the story is expertly delivered; Before prison, during prison, and after prison. Movies like Face/Off and American History X have also used this structure effectively where prison isn't the pinnacle or climax but the foundation for the film. In yet none of these three movies can be called prison films.
Another script element I feel is worth noting is the constant plot twists and surprises. Even without them the script holds together as a great and unique gangster piece but with them we get a painstakingly tight structure. For example: While Cody is in prison, his wife murders his mother. If his mother had died of natural causes, we still would see Cody's reaction to the news (which turns into one of the strangest and most surreal fight scenes I've seen) but with this extra twist we get an excellent look at his wife's disloyal and two-faced, femme-fatale persona. Twists can be a very risky move with any genre as we have seen in movies of recent years (Ex: "Basic", although that film had a lot more problems than just nonsensical twists). There are many other examples of this risk/reward throughout White Heat, such as the breathlessly suspenseful moment where the undercover cop must improvise a fight to avoid detection of his real identity (which was also used in Face/Off).
The movie never apologizes for Cody's action, nor does it give him any saving grace other than his psychological condition. In yet I couldn't help sympathizing with his Freudian ambition for success. On yet another level, the film also works as a parable on the dangers of misguided, blind avidity.
And what a climax! It's hard to beat the literally explosive conclusion. Without the incredible build up to Cody's final words, I don't think, "Made it ma, top of the world!" would have become so canonical. But that makes it all the more impressive that it has.
These rambling paragraphs don't do this film justice. It's a wonderfully entertaining, thought-provoking, suspenseful, and cathartic experience.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) 3/4

This is anything but the ideal formula for moviemaking. The script was revised from the late Douglas Adams' own screenplay which was loosely based on his radio show from the 1970's. And just to piss off the fans, they add a strange love triangle in an attempt to Hollywoodenize it. Fortunately for me, going into this film I knew nothing about "HHGTTG". So though I was quite confused, I rather enjoyed this mess of a movie. The pacing was bad and the conflict was constantly shifting like watching multiple episodes of a serial in one sitting, but what a funny and entertaining experience.
Martin Freeman, who's legend precedes him from BBC's The Office, plays Arthur, an average British bachelor. While attempting to stop his home from being demolished, he narrowly escapes the demolition of the planet. This takes him on a journey thumbing through the galaxy with his humanoid alien friend played by Mos Def.
To go any further with the plot would be a disservice to this wildly unpredictable film and a headache to try to recall. It's not the greatest of Sci-Fi's but it is funny.

Waydowntown (2000) 3.5/4

Four co-workers make a bet to see who can survive the longest without leaving Calgary's Plus 15 system in this maniacal comedic romp. For those unfamiliar with Calgary, the Plus 15, which takes its name from being 15 feet above the street, is a walkway system downtown which connects a huge chunk of Calgary and theoretically you COULD go a long long time without ever going outdoors since it connects to shopping centers and apartment complexes. So since all four friends have apartments within the grid, this wager could potentially take days (or over a year, which is what one character previously conquered). It's claustrophobic insanity at its best.
The film also takes time to show a satirical view of office boredom. One character throughout the course of the film staples cards with teamwork-booster slogans to his chest (and he's not even part of the bet!). Another has the dubious job of following the geriatric owner around to keep his kleptomaniacal habits under control.
Tom, the hero of the story, tries to keep everyone's lives under control between his pot-induced airborne journeys through TD Square. He tries to keep coworkers from cheating on their fiances, botch stapler man's suicide attempts, and patch up issues with a love-sick flower boy and his hyperactive girlfriend.
We are in rarely movie-attempted territory. Indoor lifestyles are usually seen through a futuristic lens (ex: Logan's Run) when agoraphobic jobs are very much a current reality.
This is a genuinely funny movie, and that's never a bad thing because if we can't see the humour in our lives, we might as well start stapling things to ourselves.

Once (2007) 4/4

Made in 17 days on a $160,000 budget, it's "Hustle & Flow" for white people! Or "Before Sunrise" the musical! Whatever you want to call it, it's a new take on the musical genre that's sure to be a milestone years from now.
Once is about a guy and a girl (we never learn their names) living in Dublin who meet due to their street jobs (he's a busker and vacuum cleaner repairer man and she sells flowers) and discover a mutual love for music. They also find companionship through heartbreak. The guy decides it would be best to return to his girlfriend in England but before going he wants to follow his dream of recording his songs in a studio. With the aid of the girl and three other street musicians, he works at making it happen.
At first glance, the songs in the movie are you typical breakup songs, reminiscent of "Dashboard Confessional" laments of yore. But the songs take on a life and character of their own, going beyond the lyrics and creating a beautiful, cathartic ambience.
What an inspirational movie for anyone with a dream! It wasn't about making it big as a musician, it was about pure spontaneous ambition and the genius that can come out of it.
This is loosely based on a true story. The stock footage of the guy's ex-girlfriend is real home videos of the director's girlfriend. You really get a sense that the author knows what heartbreak is first hand.
This film for me was an uplifting experience, a satisfying movie night, and a truly unique musical. A must-see!

Away from Her (2007) 4/4

Julie Christie stars (and shines) in this tragic and lovely story of a husband and wife's struggle with ageing. It is beautifully adapted and directed by Canadian TV icon Sarah Polley in her debut off the screen.
Fiona (Julie Christie) begins to show signs of memory loss so she and her husband Grant (played sincerely and honestly by Gordon Pinsent) look at their options. After being pressured by Fiona, Grant reluctantly looks into a retirement community for Alzheimer's patients. He has to leave her there for 30 days without visitation so she can adjust. By the end of the 30 days, she has "buddied-up" with another patient and doesn't remember who Grant is.
Grant's guilt from an affair decades ago makes him feel that this is fateful penance or possibly she's subconsciously punishing him. He still visits her daily and reads to her about Iceland, a place she never went in order to keep it mystical.
Using very subtle, unobtrusive cinematography, Polley shows us this world of tragedy and guilt without it ever needing to look murky. It is obvious that Polley is no actor-turned-director luck story but that her career is just beginning.
This is a very Canadian film. It's set in the heart of Canada with a Canadian soundtrack (complete with Neil Young and k.d. lang), a Canadian crew, and Canadian actors who say "aboot" and "eh". It adds so much to the realism having all these elements as the script was just begging to be shot independently.
This definitely isn't "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" but there's one minor humorous character that was a highlight for me. One of the Alzheimer's patients is a former play-by-play announcer for Hockey Night in Canada who in his senility sees life as one big hockey game.
Despite a little clunky dialogue from the amateurish nurses at the Home, I loved this film. The story and the way it's presented is on par with Wild Strawberries and Umberto D as a window into the effects and inevitabilities of ageing.

Vantage Point (2008) 1/4

Congratulations! You've successfully intersected storylines! But what was the point? And did it add to the story at all?
Well, my answers would be no point and what story? Am I the only one that's sick of the fad of throwing a potpourri of characters into a story that magically run into each other? Alejandro González Iñárritu has based his entire filmography on this film style but the difference is he has done it well and with interesting characters with relatable problems. Vantage Point's characters are a failure in every way imaginable.
I can't believe the amount of A-list actors who signed on for this project. Sigourney Weaver's role is a cameo at best and, SPOILER AHEAD, **Matthew Fox isn't the least bit believable as an antagonist**. Forrest Whitacker has a very strange role as a camera-toting tourist turned hero. But of course he makes the most of it. Dennis Quaid, however, is in all his action glory as a burned-out former secret service hero back on rotation again a year after taking a bullet for the President. And William Hurt as president? The script didn't matter. That's his kind of role, baby. The car chases were a highlight for me. Pete Travis definitely knows how to handle action film direction. It's just too bad he didn't have much of a script to work with.
Overall, there were too many coincidences for my taste and I felt gipped by what I felt was a completely pat ending.

The Awful Truth (1937) 3.5/4

Lies, infidelity, drunkeness, and divorce. And it's all in the name of good clean fun in this 1930's screwball classic. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play a couple getting divorced because they suspect each other of cheating. In most situations, these suspicions would arise from a lack of marital communication, but in this film it's the opposite. They're both so busy trying to one-up the other that they don't listen.
A minute doesn't go by without an attempt at a joke. And most of the time it's quite successful! A few highlights for me: Irene Dunne trying to keep up with her date's spontaneous, dynamic, "award winning" dancing; Irene Dunne's inebriated posing as Cary Grant's sister; Mr. Smith, their dog, playing hide-and-seek at the most inopportune times. But for me, the constant sight gags and prop comedy got tiresome. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie, especially the edginess of some of the jokes.
Has Cary Grant ever been this lovable in a movie. The clunky Charlie Chaplin impression aside, I think this is Grant at his best. The performances and the envelope pushing alone garner a viewing but I still have to disagree with Robert Osborne's opinion that this is one of the greatest movies ever made.

Juliet of the Spirits (1965) 3.5/4

To a certain extent, I GET this film. No one's more surprised by that fact than me. At one point I was pretty sure it would be nothing but a series of convoluted imagery understood by no one but Federico Fellini himself.
The movie starts out with a housewife scurrying to prepare for her husband's return from work as it is their anniversary. Instead of showing up to the door with flowers, he arrives with what looks like the cast from "La Dolce Vita", having forgotten about their anniversary and proceeds to turn their house into a tavern. In the 1930's, this would be the opening act of a screwball comedy about divorce (minus the seance of course) but in this movie, we see something else. This scene shows us just how painfully submissive this house wife, Giullietta, is. She smiles and joins in everyone else's fun.
After major evidence of infidelity, she is convinced her husband has been cheating on her. She enlists help from several sources, including a group or Jungian private eyes who show her vivid photos, videos, and audio conversations of her husband and his mistress while telling her that they aren't responsible for how the evidence is interpreted and that she should keep an open, unbiased mind. Whether it's a sex-fiend fortune teller or her filthy rich neighbor with a waterslide in her bedroom "to be used after making love", everyone's advice is horrible. She finally looks inward, and discovers that her freedom from her skewed, ideological views on marriage and religion is found in escaping her willingness to believe unquestioningly everything she is told.
Now that's the part I GET. There are a lot of visions and dreams Fellini used from his own life (as usual) that left me confused. But who wants to watch a Fellini film without those elements? That's what makes him Fellini. How disappointing it would be to sit down and watch this or 8 1/2 or other Fellini dreamscapes and understand everything. Overall, I found this to be a great effort in mixing various marital ideals with abstract imagery. A very entertaining film.