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Films seen in May
Note – I’ve tried time and time again to offer up brief reviews of every film I watch, which by now I have to confess is an impossible chore for me stay on top of. To keep myself somewhat dedicated to this site, I’m going to at least try to offer reviews of all the recent films I see. So anything I see made within the last 3 years, plan on finding a review in this log.
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03. Friends With Money (2006, USA) Nicole Holofcener -

a must see

04. Bloody Pit of Horror (1965, Italy) Massimo Pupillo -

worthless

05. The Beguiled (1971, USA) Don Siegel -

Excellent

06. Walking and Talking (1996, USA) Nicole Holofcener -

a must see

07. Morocco (1930, USA) Josef von Sternberg -

Excellent

08. Play Misty For Me (1971, USA) Clint Eastwood -

a must see

09. Dressed to Kill (1980, USA) Brian De Palma - [2nd viewing; no change in rating ****]

10. Shopgirl (2005, USA) Anand Tucker -

worthless

11. The Fortune Cookie (1966, USA) Billy Wilder -

a must see

A major letdown from both director Terry Zwigoff and writer Daniel Clowes, this smug comedy shows both of these unique talents at their most undistinguished. The film chronicles the journey of Jerome (Clowes stand-in Max Minghella) from high school into a NYC art school where he aspires to become the 21st Century’s greatest artist and to lose his virginity in the process. Much of the film’s critique on art school stereotypes is spot-on and is the source of most of the laughs, but that is short-lived and the rest consists of a pointless murder mystery, some dick jokes, and some gay jokes. The deepest question the film manages to probe is whether Max can actually achieve his goal of sex without first becoming a successful artist. It’s lame to the Nth degree, and for the most part this resembles nothing more than a disposable Kevin Smith comedy. Fortunately, Zwigoff is a great deal more talented as a director than Smith, and things remain watchable despite remaining pedestrian. And in a brief musical aside… Where the Hell is that wonderful soundtrack that Ghost World had!?

Even though I suspect Glover of pandering to the Midnight Movie audience with this unclassifiable directorial debut of his -- essentially the more shocking and bizarre the imagery, the more those late-night gore hounds will howl with delight -- there is a genuine brilliance to his madness that is hard to refute. The over-the-top surrealism consists of a cast composed entirely of people with Down’s Syndrome who share a fetish for torturing snails, a fascination with pipes, and whom take part in a great many Three Stooges style gags of physical violence. The film lifts off when we enter the inner-psyche of our main character -- a gorgeous set piece featuring Glover clad in a fur coat and sitting on a throne -- and the film’s imagery begins to take on weight and carry a much richer significance as we explore just about every taboo in the book. There are nude women with monkey masks emerging from volcanoes, Ku Klux Klan music and a man in black face, a naked man with cerebral palsy in a silk-lined seashell being masturbated, and all of this is presided over by a godlike Shirley Temple on a cloud sticking a whip in her vagina. This is about as deeply personal as filmmaking gets, however Glover in the process of exploring his own feelings about these images, manages to bring the audience along rather than leaving them in the dust (a la Jodorowsky) and part of what you will get out of this film is a deeper understanding of your personal response to these brutally frank images.

14. The Gunfighter (1950, USA) Henry King -

a must see

15. 4 (2005, Russia) Ilya Khrjanovsky -

Excellent

16. Late Spring (1949, Japan) Yasujiro Ozu -

Masterpiece

17. The Horror of Party Beach (1964, USA) Del Tenney -

has redeeming facet

18. Boxer from Shantung (1972, Hong Kong) Chang Cheh -

worth seeing

19. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953, USA) Jean Negulesco -

a must see

20. Tarantula (1955, USA) Jack Arnold -

a must see

21. Through a Glass Darkly (1961, Sweden) Ingmar Bergman -

a must see

22. The Da Vinci Code (2006, USA) Ron Howard -

has redeeming facet

23. Images (1972, USA) Robert Altman -

a must see

24. The Pyjama Girl Case (1977, Italy) Flavio Mogherini -

has redeeming facet

25. Vampyres (1974, UK) José Ramón Larraz -

has redeeming facet

26. House on Bare Mountain (1962, USA) Lee Frost -

worthless

27. Who Saw Her Die? (1972, Italy) Aldo Lado -

has redeeming facet

28. A Perfect Couple (1979, USA) Robert Altman -

a must see

29. The Third Page (1999, Turkey) Zeki Demirkubuz -

worth seeing

30. The Devil in Miss Jones (1973, USA) Gerard Damiano -

has redeeming facet

31. The Notorious Bettie Page (2005, USA) Mary Harron -

has redeeming facet