04.20.08
Posted in indie, comedy, drama, reviews at 12:41 pm by FilmFemme
Apparently people that give titles to movies don’t actually want people to see the movies that they are titling. Because, let’s face it, even a smart person doesn’t want to see a movie called Smart People. As a matter of fact, I’m going to contend that the smarter you are, the more you hate smart people. All of this points to the fact that I am actually not as smart as I think I am because not only did I go see this movie, but I enjoyed it.
Dennis Quaid is Lawrence Wetherhold, an English professor at Carnegie Mellon. Ah, movies about professors. Thank god, I was starting to think there would never be another one. Oh, except for the last movie that I reviewed on this site. Anyway. He’s very curmudgeonly. He hates all his students. His son hates him. His daughter (Ellen Page) does her best to emulate him (except for some reason she’s a Republican) and he still carries a torch for his dead wife.
But one day all of that changes!! ZOMG!!
He has a seizure while he’s trying to get his car out of the impound and ends up the ER where his doctor is Sarah Jessica Parker on the same day that his deadbeat brother (Thomas Haden Church) moves in unannounced, unexpected and uninvited.
The quirky family story that follows hardly breaks new ground, but the expectedly adequate (and at times amazing) performances and solid writing make Smart People completely watchable and generally enjoyable.
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03.01.08
Posted in best of, indie, comedy, reviews at 10:31 pm by FilmFemme
You know what movies I LOVE? Igby Goes Down, Rushmore and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
This is none of those movies.
Charlie Bartlett was supposed to come out last summer but it didn’t. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with Virginia Tech, but maybe because of like psychoactive drugs and suicidal teenagers, they wanted to wait. Or maybe it was retooled or something. Who knows (OK, someone knows, but I’m not doing an investigation or something, I’m just trying to tell you about this awful movie). But now that it’s out - I hope it goes away really soon.
Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) gets kicked out of a bunch of private schools (a la Igby) so he moves home with his overly-medicated mom (Hope Davis) who is a single parent (Igby, Rushmore) and goes to public school (Rushmore). Though he doesn’t fit in at first (Rushmore), he slowly wins everyone with psychotherapy in the boys room and psychiatric medications over until he rules the school (Rushmore, Bueller). He also falls in love with Susan (Kat Dennings, the buxom daughter from 40 Year Old Virgin) who happens to be the principal’s (Robert Downey Jr.) daughter (kind of Bueller). There is some debacle with cameras in the student lounge and blah blah blah Charlie teaches everyone to love themselves, even the suicidal kid who OD’s on the drugs that he sold him: turns out he really just wanted someone to read his play! (Rushmore!)
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02.29.08
Posted in indie, industry news, comedy, reviews at 2:52 pm by FilmFemme
Anyone who’s anyone - that is, anyone who reads Defamer - has heard about how the plot for Be Kind Rewind was (maybe) copied (probably just a coincidence) from an episode of Amanda “Ellen Page? Where the Fuck is My Oscar Nomination?!” Bynes’ old Nickelodeon show (the impeccably titled) The Amanda Show. I think this ’scandal’ is a little interesting (not as good as Katie Holmes Faked Running the NYC Marathon, but still pretty good) but since it’s probably just a coincidence, maybe it will, at the very least, serve to deflate Michel Gondry’s ego a little. No, you know, scratch that. I like to think of Michel Gondry as a kind of whimsical, artsy, aw shucks my movie isn’t that great kind of guy (don’t ask me to explain why I think this, it is probably way off base). So, maybe this accusation will devastate him completely! I definitely don’t want that.
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02.16.08
Posted in film festivals, indie, double feature, documentary, drama at 11:36 am by FilmFemme
A Screening of 3 Short Films at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle.
(1) Documentary about some guy who built some crazy instrument. Documentary consists of black and white digital interview that occasionally zooms in just on his eyes because that’s ‘artistic.’ Second half of documentary is silent footage of said guy while he plays his crazy instrument LIVE. Crazy instrument sounds like something Phillip Glass’ retarded child would make. Only worse.
(2) Silent Super 8 movie in which a woman hires a hitman to kill her husband’s mistress. It’s a good thing the (brilliant) director (of all 3 films) explained the plot before the screening! Thanks, guy!
(3) Silent 16mm movie in which a woman may or may not be the last person on earth. A skeleton follows her around. Then some people make out and drink martinis. Martinis are so cinematic. Also in black and white. And there is a band with a cello in it that plays LIVE.
I never thought that I would long for film school screenings. Mercifully all three films were under 10 minutes in length. After the last one, they tried to trick me into staying to watch the band jam (practice) by not having a pause. Fuck that.
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Posted in indie, romance, foreign, armchair marketing, reviews at 11:18 am by FilmFemme
Ah, subtitles. When you’re willing to read while you’re watching a movie, it must be great. Or else you were duped.
The trailer for The Band’s Visit is charming and funny. An Egyptian police band wandering a deserted street in Israel, trying to get to their gig but ending up in the wrong town! The poster is reminiscent of Wes Anderson, or something else quirky and warm with the blue uniforms standing stark against a harsh and dry background.
Yes, the marketing for this movie is pretty great, as far as these things go. Kudos, Sony Pictures Classics.
The movie itself was disappointing. Like its musicians, it meandered around slowly, directionless, relying on personality conflict instead of real humor. The band leader’s pride is funny for a little while, and his interactions with the sultry and brazen Dina are compelling. But writer/director Eran Kolirin piles quirk on quirk, like he watched Slums of Beverly Hills and then Buffalo ‘66 and then Independent Movie #846 and said to himself “Huh. I can do this. Quirk? Check! Awkward dinner table scene? Check! Ostensibly independent female character who doesn’t conform to the social mores of an economically depressed town and seeks escape through a stranger that hasn’t judged her yet? Check!”
The band finds themselves in a town where they aren’t supposed to be, but it turns out they need the town as much as it needs them.
Also, the vast majority of the film is in English, because that is the only language that both the Egyptians and the Israelis speak. However, the ENTIRE film is subtitled. In English. I found this to be very very annoying, because I find it extremely difficult to look away from English subtitles. And also because it makes no fucking sense.
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01.28.08
Posted in indie, double feature, drama, reviews at 1:02 pm by FilmFemme
Dear Patricia “Patty” Clarkson,
You are so beautiful and so talented and I really hope that
(1) You get to fucking star in something really soon. Because you are totally awesome as a supporting actress, but I want someone to write something really spectacular (me, maybe?) FOR you. Because you are awesome. and
(2) That I look half as great as you when I am 49. 3/4 as great? No, half would be just fine.
Love,
FilmFemme
The reviews:
The Station Agent
Actor Thomas McCarthy, who you might recognize from HBO’S The Wire (uhhh…) or All the King’s Men (try again…), ok, um, Michael Clayton (he was just a voice in that, dude)…right, then, you probably wouldn’t recognize him but he made his feature debut as both a writer and director with 2003’s The Station Agent starring the most awesome dwarf actor since Danny Devito (sorry!) Peter Dinklage, our lady Dame Patricia Clarkson and hot & goofy Bobby Cannavale (oh, THAT’s who that is!) And it’s a pretty fucking great movie.
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01.27.08
Posted in film festivals, indie, documentary, reviews at 1:17 am by FilmFemme
On a whim, I found myself at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend. It’s a weird scene, like everyone that you bump into on Beverly Drive between 1 & 2 PM just decided to buy a puffy jacket and a scarf and head off to Utah. Like everyone’s all makeup’d with straightened hair and sunglasses in case they find themselves in the background of some WireImage photo or something. It’s kind of awesome and was really entertaining to me. Anyway, on to the movie.
The one screening that I got to go to was the world premiere of a documentary about rock legend Patti Smith called Patti Smith: Dream of Life. It’s been well documented that I am a fan of music documentaries (yes, Rockumentaries) and I think that’s what made me like this one, more than the quality of it. It’s a meandering dream of the last 12 years of Smith’s life since her husband died. It seems that the filmmaker (colossally douchey photographer) Steven Sebring (careful, that site takes control of your browser size…classy…) basically just followed her around for about 12 years and they became BFF and he filmed her and put together this movie. It’s definitely a valentine to Smith, who is a totally cool and talented and rocking chick. But as a film, there’s not much of a story which made it wear on me pretty quickly. As a result of budgetary and equipment restraints, there are a lot of different looks to the film - black and white, grainy, saturated, etc. which was kind of interesting but didn’t have any real rhyme or reason to it. Smith herself is captivating, but as someone who wasn’t a fan before this movie, I couldn’t help but think: “Ok, great, but, so…?” I don’t think this will win the Audience Award, but it’s kind of interesting to have what amounts to a backstage pass to such an influential figure’s life.
Smith obviously loves her children and did love her husband, but I wish I had known more about who he was and what their relationship was like. Smith provides a haunting voiceover throughout and frames the film with some candid interviews in her bedroom. This minimal structure definitely helped, but I wanted more - more story, structure, more past. I still liked it, though.
The Q&A afterwards was great, too. Patti Smith was inches away from me and really funny. One exchange with an audience member (seriously, don’t let people ask questions because people are idiots) went like this:
IDIOT: As someone who has basically shaped their life and choices around your music…
PATTI: You know, there are doctors for that
IDIOT: Huh?
Haha - zing!
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01.17.08
Posted in foreign, indie, comedy, animated, drama, reviews at 8:22 pm by FilmFemme
Hey, a movie that I don’t feel compelled to tag with ‘misogynist’! Hooray!
Actually, I sort of love this movie. I saw it on accident because Atonement was sold out and didn’t know anything about it except someone “heard it was good” and “was based on a graphic novel or something.”
So.
Yes, it is animated. Yes, it is based on a graphic novel. Yes, it is good.
Persepolis is the story of a young woman who spent her early childhood in Iran, during a lot of political upheaval, and was eventually sent to France because there was too much turmoil and danger in Iran. The story starts in the middle, then goes back to the main character, Marjane’s, early childhood and through her adolescence. It not only taught me a shitload of Iranian history (while still being monstrously compelling), it’s also a really sweet story of a girl growing up that I could totally relate to! Also, how fucking adorable is the animation:
That’s the little girl (Marjane) pretending she’s Chairman Mao or possibly Jackie Chan. I don’t remember specifically, but sooooo cute!
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12.27.07
Posted in misogyny, indie, drama, reviews at 2:59 pm by FilmFemme
Friends with Money came on TV last night. I had been wanting to see it (I like Catherine Keener and am a little smitten with Jennifer Aniston. I mean, come on, who isn’t?) so I watched it all the way through.
It’s telling that this is the first review where I felt compelled to add an “indie” tag. It’s just one of those movies, you know? It’s funny at parts (not that funny) and sad at parts (never too sad) but mostly it’s just kind of an ambling portrait of marriage and relationships and life for women in Los Angeles.
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