Main

07. I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009, USA) Chris Columbus -

has redeeming facet [D+]

08. G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009, USA) Stephen Sommers -

worthless [F]

09. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009, USA) Michael Bay -

has redeeming facet [D]

10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, USA) David Hand -

a must see

11. Hangmen Also Die! (1943, USA) Fritz Lang -

a must see

12. Somers Town (2008, UK) Shane Meadows -

worth seeing [C]

13. The Long Day Closes (1992, UK) Terence Davies -

Masterpiece

14. Exposed (1971, Sweden) Gustav Wiklund -

has redeeming facet

15. A Serious Man (2009, USA) Joel & Ethan Coen -

a must see [B]

16. Chéri (2009, UK) Stephen Frears -

worth seeing [C-]

17. Fantasm Comes Again (1977, Australia) Colin Eggleston -

worthless

18. Ballast (2008, USA) Lance Hammer -

Excellent [A-]

19. Tokyo! (2008, Japan) -

worth seeing [C-] or see segment breakdown...
segment "Interior Design" (Michel Gondry) - ** worth seeing
segment "Merde" (Leos Carax) - **** Excellent
segment "Shaking Tokyo" (Bong Joon-ho) - * has redeeming facet

20. Antichrist (2009, Denmark) Lars von Trier -

a must see [B]

21. Mother (2009, South Korea) Bong Joon-ho -

a must see [B+]

22. Jerichow (2008, Germany) Christian Petzold -

a must see [B+]

23. Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009, UK) Shane Meadows -

has redeeming facet [D+]

24. The Ugly Truth (2009, USA) Robert Luketic -

has redeeming facet [D]

25. Humpday (2009, USA) Lynn Shelton -

a must see [B+]

26. The Limits of Control (2009, USA) Jim Jarmusch -

worth seeing [C]

27. Waltz With Bashir (2008, Israel) Ari Folman -

worth seeing [C+]

28. Thirst (2009, South Korea) Park Chan-wook -

has redeeming facet [D+]

29.Still Walking (2008, Japan) Hirokazu Koreeda -

Masterpiece [A+]
I feel I could go on and about Korreda’s brilliant use of Ozu-themes and techniques, but the bottom line is that like Ozu, Korreda deeply affected my personal state and got me to reflect upon the careful beauty of the mundane and lost loved ones whom we can no longer share that with. Is there any higher compliment one can pay a great work of art than to say it inspired some deep personal reflection?

30. Gary's Touch (2006, Canada) Ken Takahashi [short] - average
Notorious short film that inspired an audience member to call the police following a festival screening, this is a gigantic WTF of a film, but a hard one to just discard given the indisputable talent that went into making it. I’ll give you the plot but be warned it's not pretty – a gay man who lives in a crawlspace hoards his semen in Petri dishes and then goes to grade schools and proceeds to infuse the toilet paper with his seed in hopes of reproducing. He meets an old bag lady, brings her back to his crawlspace, and nausea inducing sex follows involving the aforementioned Petri dishes and a turkey baster. – Alerting the authorities yet? One man act (writer/director/cinematographer/editor/composer/etc) Ken Takahashi films this seedy (no pun intended) Ottawa tale in impressive 16mm, with a haunting score, and the story, while bat-shit crazy, has real psychological merit confronting all manner of gay male fears (the main character’s residence is the epitome of closet repression) as well as legitimate propagation anxieties. It’s a hard movie to support, and I can’t say I’m crazy about it personally, but this website would be pointless if I followed through with the easy knee-jerk reaction, declared this film filth, and moved along with my day. When you actively engage and try to interpret what was being presented with a film like Gary’s Touch, it becomes all the more disturbing, because in all actuality it is not filth at all, but like it or not, a valid film worthy of a festival slot.

31. New Moon (2009, USA) Chris Weitz -

has redeeming facet [D-]

32. The Dark Crystal (1982, USA) Jim Henson & Frank Oz -

a must see

33. "The Twilight Zone" SSN 2.1 -- King Nine Will Not Return (1960) Buzz Kulik - below average

34. "The Twilight Zone" SSN 2.2 -- The Man in the Bottle (1960) Don Medford - below average

35. "The Twilight Zone" SSN 2.3 -- Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room (1960) Douglas Heyes - below average

36. "The Twilight Zone" SSN 2.4 -- A Thing About Machines (1960) David Orrick McDearmon - average

37. "The Twilight Zone" SSN 2.5 -- The Howling Man (1960) Douglas Heyes - recommended

38. "The Twilight Zone" SSN 2.6 -- Eye of the Beholder (1960) Douglas Heyes - average

39. The Goods : Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009, USA) Neal Brennan -

worthless [F]

41. The Beastmaster (1982, USA) Don Coscarelli -

worth seeing

42. Turkey Shoot aka Escape 2000 (1982, Australia) Brian Trenchard-Smith -

a must see

43. Pitfall (1962, Japan) Hiroshi Teshigahara -

a must see

44. Shorts (2009, USA) Robert Rodriguez -

worth seeing [C+]

45. You Only Live Twice (1967, UK) Lewis Gilbert -

worth seeing

October '09 Screening Log - Halloween Horror Challenge - 45 films