2005

Had a predictably amazing New Years Eve, c/o Jenandy, the most gracious and friendly of hosts. Bubbly, wine, more bubbly, food galore, dirty dancing and rooftop celebrations all up in that joint. This following a slow but soft Christmas week at my parents', which contained few surprises: Mom still makes great food, watching movies is a drug, and red wine is the bane of my existence. Much to my nephew Hector's relief, Santa had time to stop by and literally bury him with presents. And there was much rejoicing.

Some noteworthy films seen lately:

Eight Men Out [pro] - Conventional but thoroughly enjoyable period piece slash sports drama, ripe with do-or-die moments but sans any overbearing layers of sentimentality, which is a credit to screenwriter-director Sayles. Sort of puzzling that an über-indie fella like Sayles gets involved in a thing like this, but he does it well, just like with the other period piece based on real events he did the year before, Matewan. This film doesn't bear the personal marks of Sayles' more intimate, contemporary-set relationship dramas, but it's solid filmmaking all the way through.

***

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow [pro] - I anticipated I had to "get over" some initial reaction of something, related to the masturbatory use of green-screen technology; instead, I was surprised at how effective, true to form and genre, and to the point it was (what the point was is pretty redundant, but the flick moves with considerable grace and agility to get there, and fast). Rather than spending the entire film building exposition, the concept of the Sky Captain is more or less just there, obvious and unexplained, like an "of course there's a guy called Sky Captain and of course he's protecting us from evil! duh!" kind of thing. An admirable attitude, surprisingly rare these days, and mirrored to even greater effect in another even greater movie seen lately - The Incredibles [PRO].*

***

The Saddest Music in the World [pro+]- I've seen more or less every short film and every feature Guy Maddin has done up to this point, and I must say that his short films are where his anachronistic, surreal genius really shines. His features all suffer to various degrees from shifts in tempo that often makes them uneven, and he's yet to crank out truly great performances by his actors. Still, while I would say all of his shorts are PRO or pro in my book, his features don't come far behind (the only dud is of course Twilight of the Ice Nymphs). No matter how this phrase has been beaten to death: Maddin really is a unique voice in contemporary cinema.

***

Riding Giants [pro] - Stacy Peralta goes from one board to another. After the very impressive Dogtown and Z-Boys, he's turned to the sea, catching up with the history of the surfers, with an emphasis on the big wave surfers from Greg Noll up to Laird Hamilton et al. Fascinating stuff, much better than the sap-filled yada-yada that was Stepping Into Liquid, but the genre itself - self-congratulatory sports documentary - has its pitfalls, and Peralta steps in a few. Not as self-indulgent as Dogtown and Z-Boys was (as Peralta isn't himself a principal character, even though he narrates), but still sentimentally swooning after the legends, the mavericks, the daredevils and innovators. It looks great though - exquisitely shot and edited.



More stuff - and New Years pics! - tomorrow or something.


* which, when all is said and done, really is one of 2004's great movies, and almost predictably so. I had some doubts going in whether Bird's keen eye for detail, period, and humanity, so evident in The Iron Giant, would be contained, or if he'd be sucked up in Pixar's relatively carefree and perfect happyland. Thankfully, it looks like they've just open up the door (and the wallet) and let Bird have his way with this piece of work. It's probably not a disadvantage to be interested and easily amused by the world of superheroes and their impossible logics - guilty as charged.