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
10.
Shopgirl (2005, USA) Anand Tucker -
worthless
13.
What Is It?
(2005, USA) Crispin Glover -
a
must see
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
17.
The Horror of Party Beach (1964, USA) Del Tenney
-
has redeeming facet
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
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
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