Eyes Wide Shut

EYES WIDE SHUT (1999) - Jan. 31, 2007
Stanley Kubrick's last film, about a man who has one very strange night after he finds out that his wife almost cheated on him once. This probably wasn't Kubrick's best film, but even the K-man's worst film is better than most directors' best. I think it goes without saying that the film is visually a knockout. No one can beat Kubrick when it comes to framing and moving the camera, as well as his use of music to accompany the visuals. He also uses the old zoom lens a lot here, and is probably one of the few directors to actually use it really well. The performances are all really good, and even at over two and a half hours the movie doesn't feel long at all. It also seems like the type of film that will improve on repeat viewings, so hopefully I'll get a chance to watch it again soon. ***1/2

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures

STANLEY KUBRICK: A LIFE IN PICTURES (2001) - Jan. 31, 2007
A really interesting documentary about Stanley Kubrick, including his upbringing and all of his movies. It's long, but it needs to be (even at almost two and a half hours, some of his movies don't get quite as much time as you'd like). The film includes a lot of interviews and behind the scenes footage, and is really interesting throughout. ***

Babel

BABEL (2006) - Jan. 27, 2007
I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by this, the third film from director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga (and apparently their last). That's not to say it was bad; it was very good. But after the mind-blowingly excellent Amores Perros, and the almost-as-good 21 Grams, a very good movie can't help but be disappointing. Featuring four stories linked by the shooting of an American woman in Morocco, this was a really well made film. The performances were also uniformly excellent. But the movie felt a bit on the long side -- somewhere towards the end, my interest started to wane (at 142 minutes, this was actually around 10 minutes shorter than Amores Perros, and yet it felt longer). Oh well. It was still quite good. ***1/2

The Killer is Loose

THE KILLER IS LOOSE (1956) - Jan. 26, 2007
A surprisingly effective thriller about a cop who accidentally shoots a criminal's wife, and then prepares for the worst when the criminal escapes from prison. Though the film is, for the most part, blandly directed by Budd Boetticher, it still manages to be quite tense in parts. I particularly liked the scene where the escaped criminal stops in at the house of a man he used to know in the army; I also liked the finale. Joseph Cotten was really good as the cop, as was Wendell Corey, who gave a nicely sinister performance as the determined criminal. ***1/2

Smokin' Aces

SMOKIN' ACES (2007) - Jan. 24, 2007
An interesting film from Joe Carnahan, which couldn't be more different from his previous film, the very gritty Narc. About a sleazy mob snitch who winds up with a million dollar bounty on his head, and the chaos that ensues when several hitmen and the FBI all try to get to him at once. The film contains a surfeit of characters, and moves at a really quick pace, rarely dwelling on the same scene for more than a couple of minutes (if that). It works, for the most part, though it does get a tad overwhelming at times. Carnahan's direction was good; it was stylish without ever becoming overbearing, which certainly would have been easy with a film like this. The characters were also developed a bit more than you'd expect out of a film like this. ***

Adventure in Manhattan

ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN (1936) - Jan. 20, 2007
An enjoyable film about a cocky crime reporter who, while working on solving a string of robberies, winds up falling in love with an actress. It helps that the film has a runtime of 73 minutes, so it ends long before it has a chance to wear out its welcome. Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur were both good in the main roles. This wasn't anything particularly special, but it was enjoyable enough. **1/2

The Five Obstructions

THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS (2003) - Jan. 19, 2007
An interesting but somewhat slow-paced documentary about Lars von Trier's efforts to get Jorgen Leth to remake his 1967 short film, "the Perfect Man", five times, each time with different constraints. It's interesting watching Leth trying to solve the problems the various obstructions hold (for the first film, each shot could be no longer than 12 frames). It feels a bit long at times, despite being only 90 minutes, but it was never boring. **1/2

The Hitcher

THE HITCHER (2007) - Jan. 18, 2007
Someone needs to murder Michael Bay. He's a terrible director, and as this film confirms, a terrible producer. He stinks. This movie was competently made, but it was silly and tedious and only sporadically entertaining. About a couple who, while traveling across the country, pick up a hitchhiker who proceeds to terrorize them in increasingly ludicrous ways. The film's one bright spot is Sean Bean, who gives a gleefully sinister performance, and who livens up the movie whenever he's on the screen. That's about it, though. *1/2

Burden of Dreams

BURDEN OF DREAMS (1982) - Jan. 17, 2007
Well, this was certainly different from your average behind-the-scenes documentary; I doubt that much more than half of it was dedicated to the actual making of the film. It was slow-paced and sort of strange; the film was at its best when it focused on all the troubles that the crew encountered while trying to make the film in the middle of a remote jungle. **1/2

Curse of the Golden Flower

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (2006) - Jan. 10, 2007
Well, Zhang is one for three with his historical epics (Hero was the only really good one), so now that he's made his trilogy, I hope he goes back to smaller-scale dramas for good. About the power struggles within China's ruling family, this was a really, really good looking movie, but I found myself somewhat detached from the characters and plot. It looked so good, though. I really can't say enough about the visual style of this film. Yimou's direction, as well as the cinematography, are as good as ever, but the movie itself was unfortunately not quite up to that level. ***

A Night at the Museum

A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM (2006) - Jan. 10, 2007
An innocuous but essentially entertaining film about a man who becomes the night watchman at a museum where everything comes to life after a certain hour. It's pretty much exactly what you'd think it would be. **1/2

Rocky Balboa

ROCKY BALBOA (2006) - Jan 6, 2007
Well, this is pretty much exactly what you'd expect out of the sixth Rocky movie; no more, no less. About Rocky, still mourning the loss of his wife, who strikes up a friendship with a young mother and her son, and who decides that he's got one more fight left in him. Stalone goes perhaps a bit overboard in referencing moments from the previous movies, and at times the film feels more like a series of "Hey! Remember this?" moments than an actual movie, particularly towards the beginning. Though Stalone has clearly had one plastic surgery too many and looks a bit creepy, he does manage to give a surprisingly good performance. And the fight at the end was actually quite good and was probably a highlight. **1/2

Children of Men

CHILDREN OF MEN (2006) - Jan. 5, 2007
Wow! This movie just completely knocked me out. I mean, I was looking forward to it, and hoping that it would be good, but... It knocked my socks off. It blew them right off my feet (what does that expression mean, anyway? Where did it come from? Anyway...) About a future where women have been infertile for 18 years, and where London is the last livable city on Earth: a police state on the brink of chaos. This was probably one of the best visions of the future since Blade Runner. Alfonso Cuaron's direction was absolutely perfect; the movie featured some really stunning visuals. The whole film was shot handheld, which gave it an appropriately gritty feel. Under a lesser director, this choice could have sunk the movie, but Cuaron and his cinematographer clearly know what they are doing; their handheld cinematography achieves that spontaneous, cinema verite sort of look without having that ugly jitteriness that plagues most handheld movies (Paul Greengrass being a prime example of this). Movies with this sort of look tend to feel like the director just went out and shot a ton of footage with the intent of sorting it all out in the editing room; that was clearly not the case here. Speaking of which, there were also some really long and really impressive shots in this movie. There was one towards the end, which starts outside a building and ends up in its upper floors, that really blew me away (in fact that whole sequence was incredibly well done, and really powerful). Aside from the visuals, the performances were all really good, particularly Clive Owen (if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination I'll eat my hat). The film was also really well written (despite the fact that there are five credited writers, which is generally a harbinger of bad things to come). This was just a really excellent, powerful and gripping film, one of the best I've seen in a while. ****