Hey folks, Harry here… well the big news this week is the end of the format war. While the war may be over – we’ve still, in the here and now got both formats continuing to come out. It’s a pretty good line-up – and as usual – if you click on a box or title, you can go to Amazon where you can learn more and if you decide to purchase it there, this column gets a small kick back – that helps it continue on. Let’s get right to it with a film much larger than the man who made it…

Tuesday - February 19, 2008

INSIDE

This week we start you off with one of the most subtle and disturbing films on voyeurism since the brilliant PEEPING TOM. This film tops this week’s releases for many reasons. One: You’ve likely never heard of it. Two: It is a past Fantastic Fest discovery. Three: The director is one of you… a long time AICNer. You’ve seen hist contributions under many names and he is a strangle little dwarf of a man… and this film is something to be proud of. Mahler shot an intelligent suspense thriller that could be played on stage, but is even more intimate on film. It’s twisted, slightly sadistic – and makes me worry about Jeff’s unsuspecting neighbors and gym partners. This is its global premiere – but Jeff’s next will definitely be coming to a theater near you. This will make you a fan.

MICHAEL CLAYTON

As wonderful as Clooney is in this, for me… it’s Tom Wilkinson’s film. He’s just in top form here. Crazy or wiley? When a corporate lawyer develops a conscience, maybe it is lunacy or merely the creation of Hollywood liberals… Tony Gilroy’s film reminds of those classic paranoia thrillers of the seventies that Beatty and Redford did – the concept of the cold-blooded methodically deadly evil corporations… it’s a favorite enemy, because we all know THEY’RE REAL! This is a fantastic film, and Clooney is outstanding, as usual. When the screw turns, he’s just fantastic. But I tell you – try to take your eyes off of Wilkinson in this film… you can’t!

AMERICAN GANGSTER

I don’t love this film and I think I know why. This is a story of essentially CAT & MOUSE. Denzel is “the bad guy” and Russell is “the good guy”. And then in the building of the characters – I found that I didn’t like Russell Crowe’s character at all…. Whereas – Denzel is a model of a self-made man. Resembling in a kinder, sweeter and more honorable way… Daniel Day-Lewis’ character in THERE WILL BE BLOOD – but I find the film massively unbalanced… so much so, that I wish Scott had just dropped Russell as a main character – and had him, just entirely in the background. A character that you’d just see across the street watching. Because the way the film plays out now – it feels so damn cookie cutter… a,b,c,d… and you just see it unfolding a half hour away. The only real enjoyment that I took from the film was the Denzel character and storyline. But this is definitely a lesser film.

LUST, CAUTION

If BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN threatened your heterosexuality, Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION invigorates your libido with the proper dose of Viagra in the guise of Tang Wei! She is so incredibly sensual, erotic and just plain fuckable – that you completely get why how she gets so close to Tony Leung. As is usual in all of Ang Lee’s work – his eye for beauty, composition and emotional storytelling. This is a thrilling throbbing theatrical endeavor. Wish it was in High Def.

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH

There’s a lot of folks out there that just hate Paul Haggis’ work. I don’t. I just feel he’s rather obvious. However, with IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH – I just can’t deny how good he is at getting damn good performances out his characters. Tommy Lee Jones is great here. His ability to pull a really wonderful performance out of Charlize Theron is to be admired… she isn’t always an automatic quality performance, though I have to say – she’s really becoming a great actress. The story about a missing son back from a tour of duty in Iraq, which surprise… wasn’t sunshine and roses… and the subsequent investigation to find out how he disappeared once he came back – and why he turned out as he did… well it’s not happy, It’s definitely at least a rental for ya. But Theron and Jones make it a buy for me.

RUN LOLA RUN (Blu-Ray)

I love RUN LOLA RUN – one of the most propulsive adrenal films ever made. This is the film that unleashed Tom Tykwer and Franka Potente upon mankind – and I got my first look at it at Rotterdam all those years ago… now we can have that experience with the 1080p perfection of Blu Ray – and if you love the format and the film, this is one of the must purchases – if you’ve never seen it – the music, the editing, the story and the performance of Franka is just stunning. One of the best melding of image and music we’ve seen. It’s truly one of my faves.

PIERROT LE FOU – Criterion Collection

Godard, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina. Ok – so now it’s time to go buy it. Each of those names gets me further excited as they were typed. Godard is one of the true masters of cinema – and Jean-Paul Belmondo… he is just one of those actors that amuses, tickles and hurts all at once. Then Anna Karina… she’s one of the great beauties of this period of film. The basic story line about a man fed up with married life and hitting the road with the baby-sitter is something that I can’t ever imagine being the sort of fantasy to keep me awake at night… unless I was reviewing this movie for my DVD column… not that I’d ever contemplate the young pliant flesh of an innocent babysitter. Cuz that’s the furthest thing from my mind. Besides – this film is pure crazy fun… not at all a model for one’s life, just a weekend or two. Criterion has done a great job with tons of extras and a great print.

KURT COBAIN – ABOUT A SON

If you’re one of those folks that worships NIRVANA and KURT COBAIN – and well, a card carrying member of the cult-of-personality… then this documentary biography narrated by Kurt Cobain himself will be a religious experience. I am not a member of that cult, but I have to say this film is a fascinating look at Kurt – and that it is narrated by Kurt – via audio taken from Michael Azerrad for the book, COME AS YOU ARE: THE STORY OF NIRVANA – well – it is a great look at a talent that went too fast.

WALKER – CRITERION COLLECTION

If you are drunk in love with Alex Cox – you may know this film. However, for many – it would take a great company like Criterion to introduce you to the special kind of awesome that is Alex Cox’s WALKER. The film starred Ed Harris as an incredibly complicated and weird man that had so many careers that he could only ever become a dictator of Nicaragua. The movie is an intoxicating experience – only like Cox could deliver. Again, Criterion has brought in a lot of great extras – the best extra is just getting to see this amazing performance from Ed Harris, one of my fave actors.

REDACTED

No doubt this is “Pappa Bear’s” favorite film… De Palma created his most experimental film of his career with this effort. Based on an incident, that we all wish didn’t happen – but that we can’t really bury in a shallow unmarked grave. People need to remember that the atrocities of war happen. That war changes or enables the worst of humanity – and we should fight to remind folks that war is ugly – that occupying another people’s land leads to terrible things. The film doesn’t state this how our troops, in unison, act. This is about a specific incident – it’s incredibly ugly, disturbing and isn’t at all like a typical film. It also happens to be a great work of Brian De Palma’s. Though it is definitely not for everyone.

SPIRAL

Aha! Another FANTASTIC FEST film! This one from Adam Green and Joel David Moore – the Director and star of HATCHET. This is an entirely different film from that one. HATCHET was a mix of hilarity and over the top gore and exploitive fun. This is very much a psychological film, one where Joel David Moore isn’t a goof, but a ticking bomb – You can feel him ticking as he sketches, as he talks, there’s just something wrong with him. I really like this little film, but ultimately I’ll watch HATCHET about 20 more times than this.

GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM COLLECTION ( THE HANDS OF ORLAC / THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI / SECRETS OF A SOUL / WARNING SHADOWS )

The first two in this set – THE HANDS OF ORLAC and CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI are a pair of my all time favorite vintage films… that KINO teamed them up with SECRETS OF A SOUL and WARNING SHADOWS – two films of the German Expressionism period that I haven’t seen… well it’s too good to pass up. Especially when one was directed by Pabst and the other has a reputation of being one of the most dreamlike of the German Expressionist movement. And we get these with the KINO treatment – which really has been nothing short of miraculous in keeping silent and vintage cinema looking great for a very long time!

TERROR’S ADVOCATE

He’s like Matlock, but an evil son of a bitch! That said – you’ll watch this documentary and be aghast at the blatant slimey smug reality of this guy. He’s defended Carlos the Jackal, Slobodan Milosevic and those are just the most charismatic and charming of his clients. Barbet Schroeder did wonders with this documentary and it is one of the most compelling films you’ll see. Even if your jaw is open and you’re offended by it all!

MR BUG GOES TO TOWN aka HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN

But under no circumstances should it be called BUGVILLE. This is one of my all time favorite animated films. I watched it at all my birthday parties as a kid, as we had it in 16mm. It was created by the Fleischer Brothers and tells the story of a Republican Bug that was trying to muscle the sweet Mr Bumble out of his property – and he tries to mess with a Grasshopper named Hoppity and his Bee galfriend. To me, this was always an animated Capra film – that most resembled the IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE – but if everybody was bugs and if mankind and industrialization was trying to destroy their habitat. Fantastic film

SCHOOLGIRL REPORT VOL. 3: WHAT PARENTS FIND UNTHINKABLE

A shocking expose’ on German teenage youth. It’s just horrifyingly revealing. You’ll turn away, disturbed by how girls actually get nude and sexually aroused. The sort of things that no parent anywhere could possibly believe their children were up to. They aren’t just studying and doing homework at school or at the dorm. Sometimes – they actually – get naked – other than in a shower. It’s repellent – but I thought it was time to wake all you people up to the horrendous horror that is youthful promiscuity. So disgusting. Moriarty has just informed me that there's some trouble with this title - CLICK HERE Drew monitors this Schoolgirl porn stuff quite closely - that's why he knows about that link. I was just warning you folks. I was shocked.

DARKON

There is a world of geekery so disturbing and so alien to normality that the only way to describe it is a strange word, “LARP!” – which somehow has come to mean live action role playing, but I can’t imagine how that came to be. Weird. That said – this is a very fun movie. It’s a documentary about some LARPers and their heroic journey. It’s true life geekery at its best and most revealing.

WHO SAW HER DIE?

You know this genre. The story about a father, whose child is killed or missing – the police are no good, so the old man has to investigate the case himself – only to find a disturbing and unhappy world that he could never imagine his child being a part of. So basically – this is IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, but way the fuck more entertaining and thrilling. For one, it stars George “James Bond” Lazenby – a score by Giallo scoring genius Ennio Morricone. And directed by Aldo Lado who made the fantastic flick NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS that I’ve reviewed on this column about 2 years ago. Honestly – this is a better film than IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH.

That’s it for this week, next week is pretty outstanding with COMANCHE MOON, BEOWULF, JUSTICE LEAGUE – THE NEW FRONTIER, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, THE SMURFS, The FUGITIVE, THE LAST EMPEROR, SILK, GOYA’S GHOSTS, PUNKY BREWSTER Season Four, THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SCORPION, THE VOYEUR, THEM and much more!!!