I can never keep up with my film reviews.
So I keep doing them in these batches.
So, in reverse order:
The Croupier 9/10
Just watched this film this morning and it's the best movie I've watched in a long while. Made in 1998, it is a British film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Clive Owen (who I've grown to like very much, even though I wasn't fond of
Children of Men). It's the story of a rather reflective and imperturbable casino dealer (aka, a croupier) and fledgling novelist and his struggles with women, temptation and betrayal. It is a crime drama of sorts, but mostly it is a movie about odds, chance and the absurdity of the human condition when viewed through the eyes of a dislocated soul. I guess I related to it because that's how I feel so much of the time, lol. But I loved the film.
Gosford Park 10/10
I've watched this film many, many times, but I love it so much. My favorite Robert Altman film, by far. An exquisitely crafted film about the intimately connected, yet compulsively estranged worlds of British class society as illustrated by the subtle politics of the upper crust and the regiments of servants, cooks and attendants who care for them. Ostensibly an old-fashioned Agatha Christie-type murder mystery, it is more about the hypocrisy of class discrimination and the prohibitive nature that keeps all of them 'pressed into service.' At least, that's what I take from it. Similar to books by Henry James and Edith Wharton, observers in their time of the 'oppression of proprieties.' The hushed tones and elegant choreography of this film enthrall me. It's like meditation.
Suggestion: watch it with the subtitles on...Robert Altman had a tendency to use naturalistic, overlapping dialogue in his films...you can miss a lot.
Wonder Boys 10/10
Another one of my all-time favorites. It's a comfort film, much like
Gosford Park, I watch it when I'm feeling fragile. If you haven't seen it, you must. Immediately.
About Schmidt 10/10
Third in my list of comfort films. I think I reviewed it here before, though. That last scene when Warren is looking at the drawing sent to him by Ndugu and he starts crying is one of my favorite movie moments ever.
The Believer 5/10
Weird movie starring Ryan Gosling as a Jew who becomes a neo-Nazi. Don't really have much opinion on it. It wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't say it was good, either.
The Assassination of Richard Nixon 8/10
Sean Penn was beyond genius in this film, of course, but I didn't manage to get wrapped up in it. He is absolutely, hands down the only true genius acting in American cinema today. It was very good, but ultimately not impactful.
The Woodsman 7/10
I liked it. But that's about it. Kevin Bacon was great. Mos Def - I've never seen him act before. He's very impressive.
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers 6/10
Can't really say much about this film. Mediocre all around, in my opinion. Although, Geoffrey Rush does a great Peter Sellers impersonation, most especially a great Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove impersonation. But I was hoping for more...and I really didn't enjoy finding out that Peter Sellers was, well, fucking insane, lol.
Far From Heaven 4/10
Meh. Too message-y.
The Libertine 5/10
Uh, yeah, meh. Not nearly enough sex.
Fay Grim 8/10
I loved this follow-up to
Henry Fool, which was my favorite Hal Hartley movie even though it was little noticed and quickly forgotten. And Parker Posey is such a fox.
The Magdalene Sisters 6/10
I'm certain that I was supposed to think this a great, important film, but I didn't find it all that engaging. The only thing that sticks out in my head is reading at the end that the last of these Irish-Catholic slave laundries was closed in 1998. Fucking 1998!!! Jesus Christ...people suck.
Vera Drake 9/10
Very sad, but very good. I love Mike Leigh films and this one was a bit of a departure for him. Much more respectful and sentimental of it's subject than most of his other films. The story of a British cleaning woman in 1950's London who 'helps' poor women by performing home-style, non-surgical abortions. A subplot also involves the daughter of one her employers who is date-raped and becomes pregnant, but is able to procure a legal abortion for 'therapeutic' reasons. Imelda Staunton is heartbreakingly good and authentic in the title role. I highly recommend it.
The only two movies I've seen in the theater lately:
Cloverfield 7/10
It was good, but now, a couple of weeks later, I can barely remember it.
National Treasure II 5/10
I know, I know. But we saw this while we were in Naples and Phillip and I couldn't think of anything else we could see with the Boo that wasn't unbearable to think about. It wasn't horrible. Two things stick out in my mind:
1. It was better than the Tomb Raider movies.
2. What the fuck is up with Nicolas Cage's hair??
The Water Horse 8/10
Nope, writing that last 'review' I remembered that we also took the Boo to see this film and it was pretty good. We enjoyed it.