A few more...

I realize I'm not that good with this "it's a blog, it should be updated once a day!" business, but it feels like I've been very inactive the last few weeks. So here's a bunch of quick notes of things I've seen over the last few days:

Birth (Jonathan Glazer) - mixed+
Clinical, impersonal execution of a sort-of eerie premise that evolves mostly into a string of scenes seemingly hellbent on showing just how socially awkward things become when your dead husband returns as a ten-year-old boy. Harris Savides is da man though - his tracking shots, during the opening jog in the park in particular, are as mesmerizing as in Elephant, and I also enjoyed the sub-bass sound mixing and the Glass-imitating score.

Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondo) - mixed+
Regardless how Ghiblilicious the animation is, the story never got to me and the hints of the fantastique frustratingly remained hints without exploring them as much as I wanted to - I like the admittedly lighter spin-off The Cat Returns better.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah) - pro+
Not without its problems, but picks up considerably in the second half, and it's only later that I realize why it's so great, apart from the usual Peckinpah blood & guts, thick-headed machismo and finality: the character of Benny feels so perfectly realized when it comes to conveying his dreams and ambitions and desperation, and the awesome Warren Oates lives and breathes that motherfucker like his life is on the line.

Cellular (David R. Ellis) - mixed+
Dumb fun, perfect companion piece to the inferior Phone Booth, also penned by Larry C; enough nonsense to keep it from pro, but it's damn close.

Silver City (John Sayles) - mixed-
Dangerously close to con; surely one of the sloppiest, overly talky, crude pics Sayles ever directed, yet there are glimpses of goodness in the acting and some of the scenes - the investigator's talk with the old mining engineer, for example, feels like vintage Sayles.