Viewing Journal 2010

* after title indicates film was seen on dvd/video
^ after title indicates film was unfinished.
Title in italic indicates that I had previously seen the film
Title in Blue is TV.

001. (Jan 01) TIME OUT (2001, Laurent Cantet)* 65

001. (Jan 02) LOST 4.5: THE CONSTANT (2008, Jack Bender)* 70

002. (Jan 03) THE BEACHES OF AGNÉS (2008, Agnés Varda) 52

003. (Jan 03) BROKEN EMBRACES (2009, Pedro Almodovar) 47

004. (Jan 04) THE TALL TARGET (1951, Anthony Mann)* 71

005. (Jan 05) ARMORED (2009, Nimròd Antal)* 56

002. (Jan 05) LOST 4.6: THE OTHER WOMAN (2008, Eric Laneuville)* 58

003. (Jan 06) LOST 4.7: JI YEON (2008, Stephen Semel)* 60

004. (Jan 06) LOST 4.8: MEET KEVIN JOHNSON (2008, Stephen Williams)* 65

005. (Jan 06) LOST 4.9: THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME (2008, Jack Bender)* 73

006. (Jan 06) LOST 4.10: SOMETHING NICE BACK HOME (2008, Stephen Williams)* 59

007. (Jan 10) LOST 4.11: CABIN FEVER (2008, Paul A. Edwards)* 67

008. (Jan 10) LOST 4.12: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: PART 1 (2008, Stephen Williams)* 61

009. (Jan 10) LOST 4.13: THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: PART 2 (2008, Jack Bender)* 63
Overall Average Grade for S4 is 63.

010. (Jan 10) LOST 5.1: BECAUSE YOU LEFT (2009, Stephen Williams)* 63

011. (Jan 10) LOST 5.2: THE LIE (2009, Jack Bender)* 58

006. (Jan 10) THE OUTSIDERS (1983, Francis Ford Coppola)* 50

012. (Jan 12) LOST 5.3: JUGHEAD (2009, Rod Holcomb)* 65

013. (Jan 12) LOST 5.4: THE LITTLE PRINCE (2009, Stephen Williams)* 56

007. (Jan 12) A NEW LEAF (1971, Elaine May) 84

014. (Jan 13) LOST 5.5: THIS PLACE IS DEATH (2009, Paul A. Edwards)* 49

015. (Jan 13) LOST 5.6: 316 (2009, Stephen Williams)* 54

016. (Jan 13) LOST 5.7: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JEREMY BENTHAM (2009, Jack Bender)* 58

017. (Jan 14) LOST 5.8: LAFLEUR (2009, Mark Goldman)* 65

018. (Jan 14) LOST 5.9: NAMASTE (2009, Jack Bender)* 61

019. (Jan 14) LOST 5.10: HE'S OUR YOU (2009, Greg Yaitanes)* 64

020. (Jan 14) LOST 5.11: WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED (2009, Bobby Roth)* 57

021. (Jan 14) LOST 5.12: DEAD IS DEAD (2009, Stephen Williams)* 62

022. (Jan 15) LOST 5.13: SOME LIKE IT HOTH (2009, Jack Bender)* 65

008. (Jan 15) MISSISSIPPI MERMAID (1969, François Truffaut) 73

023. (Jan 15) LOST 5.14: THE VARIABLE (2009, Paul A. Edwards)* 68

024. (Jan 16) LOST 5.15: FOLLOW THE LEADER (2009, Stephen Williams)* 62

025. (Jan 16) LOST 5.16: THE INCIDENT (2009, Jack Bender)* 64
Overall Average Grade for S5 is 61.

009. (Jan 16) THE SWIMMER (1968, Frank Perry) 66
Feels caught in between New and Old Hollywood and while it's inventive and cleverly metaphorical; it's also not opposed to underlining theme and metaphor just to show you how damn clever it's being. Perry seems to me a very talented director with interesting ideas but I'm not sure if he ever executed them well enough or consistently enough to make a great film (but I still have more exploring to do in Perry's filmography, which is criminally underrepresented on DVD).

010. (Jan 17) THE HURT LOCKER (2008, Kathryn Bigelow)* 69
Second viewing, no change in grade. I still think some of the quiet scenes are overwritten and the tension in the suspense set-pieces is sometimes monkeyed with in a very dishonest way. The final change of perspective at home with Renner's character also doesn't really work for me. This film is at its best when it operates as a procedural and structures itself as a day in the life; much less successful when it tries to psychoanalyses the behavior of the soldiers.

011. (Jan 17) THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS (2009, Terry Gilliam) 28
A complete disaster.

012. (Jan 18) WESTBOUND (1959, Budd Boetticher)* 65
Actually less minor that I was led to believe but still not quite as strong as some of the other Ranown films.

013. (Jan 18) MILANO CALIBRO 9 (1972, Fernando Di Leo)* 75
Second viewing, first while totally sober and I must say that I enjoyed it even more this time. Bacalov's terrific score gives this a pulse and Di Leo is not one to shy away from stylishness for its own sake, but here he actually has a strong script to work with and his quirks contribute to the general air of surliness.

014. (Jan 18) CITY OF FEAR (1959, Irving Lerner)* 57
Much less successful that Lerner's previous MURDER BY CONTRACT but not devoid of interest, at all. There's a nice jazzy score by Goldsmith and a nice level of maintained tension. I also enjoyed seeing the streets of late-50s Los Angeles being filmed so well. I am bitter that I missed seeing a print of this last year at the New Beverly (I was at TIFF); I would show up to revisit it if they decided to show it again.

015. (Jan 18) INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009, Quentin Tarantino)* 93
Nothing new noticed this time. I still have a marginal problem with Hitler, Myers and the flashed sex scene between Goebbels and his French interpreter. I guess these are pretty minor complaints though since this is a film that has so much to offer in terms of eccentric writing, fluid direction and terrific performances. I watched all of the bonus material too but the only thing that I really found essential was the brief moment of Tarantino directing Laurent before the extended restaurant scene.

016. (Jan 22) I'M NOT THERE (2007, Todd Haynes)* 85
Second viewing, slight upgrade from 84. I also listened to Haynes terrific audio commentary which helps unpack the themes, characters as signposts and vague Dylan references that a moderate Dylan-buff like myself would not necessarily pick up.

017. (Jan 24) THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO (2009, Rob Zombie)* 61
Irreverent and funny. I particularly enjoyed the Nazi Zombie theme song in the style of 60s band The Zombies and the musical number during the catfight encouraging you to mastutbate to the animation ("the Japanese do it all the time" obviously). I didn't recognize Rosario Dawson's voice.

s001. (Jan 25) WORLD OF GLORY (1991, Roy Andersson)* PRO
A stunning film. I watched it again with Roy Andersson's commentary turned on then watched the section on the dvd about the making of the scenes and was pretty stunned by Andersson's filmmaking process and the way he processes the images.

018. (Jan 25) BLACK DYNAMITE (2009, Scott Sanders)* 38
I really wasn't sure of the comedy premise that this film was working upon (Is it making fun of those films? Is it making fun of the spirit of those films? Is it really just throwing out random jokes without really following a premise?) and so i was unsure how to approach the material and I didn't really laugh along with it or at it's meta humor. There are a lot of grindhouse pastiches being made right now and I think this film could have learned a lot from studying the way HOUSE OF THE DEVIL paid loving homage to the films that inspired it or the way PLANET TERROR playfully sent up some of the goofy elements while still trying to achieve a similar tone as the films it was imitating. BLACK DYNAMITE was less funny than COFFY and certainly more restrained in its sex and violence (staples of the genre). There's certainly nothing as goofy / exhileratingly brutal here as the scene where Coffy sticks razorblades in her afro as a preemptive measure that plays off in her cat fight in the next scene. I think I like and understand blaxploitation films more than Scott Sanders does.

s002. (Jan 27) JOHN AND NORMA NOVAK (1977, Clu Gulager) pro

019. (Jan 27) REFLECTIONS OF EVIL (2002, Damon Packard) 64
Overlong but there are some really terrific sequences here (theme park hell and Carpenter's "We've Only Just Begun"). Apparently a four hour version exists, if only a 45 minute version existed.

s003. (Jan 27) A DAY WITH THE BOYS (1969, Clu Gulager) pro

s004. (Jan 27) FUCKING TULSA (1992, Clu Gulager) mixed
Hard to tell what this would have been. It's nasty and moody but it doesn't add up to anything.

019. (Jan 28) HOME (2008, Ursula Meier)* 58
Conceptual above all else. Starts well but character actions are schematic and alien, in order to achieve desired end point.

020. (Jan 31) NIGHT AND DAY (2009, Hong Sang-soo)* 69

021. (Jan 31) THE MESSENGER (2009, Oren Moverman)* 66

026. (Feb 02) LOST 6.1 & 6.2: LA X (2010, Jack Bender)* 64

027. (Feb 09) LOST 6.3: WHAT KATE DOES (2010, Paul A. Edwards)* 58

022. (Feb 13) KILLER OF SHEEP (1977, Charles Burnett) 45

023. (Feb 13) THE EXILES (1961, Kent MacKenzie) 64

024. (Feb 14) 52 PICK UP (1986, John Frankenheimer)* 76

025. (Feb 15) THE WOLFMAN (2010, Joe Johnston) 53

026. (Feb 15) EDGE OF DARKNESS (2010, Martin Campbell) 56

027. (Feb 15) CRAZY HEART (2009, Scott Cooper) 58

028. (Feb 16) A SINGLE MAN (2009, Tom Ford) 51

028. (Feb 16) LOST 6.4: THE SUBSTITUTE (2010, Tucker Gates)* 65

029. (Feb 17) BUFFALO '66 (1998, Vincent Gallo) 78

030. (Feb 17) STAR 80 (1983, Bob Fosse) 65

031. (Feb 18) SHUTTER ISLAND (2010, Martin Scorsese) 68

032. (Feb 19) SHUTTER ISLAND (2010, Martin Scorsese) 74

033. (Feb 21) THE GHOST WRITER (2010, Roman Polanski) 66

034. (Feb 22) SHAMPOO (1975, Hal Ashby) 57
Second viewing, first was when I was a teenager. I'm still not really a fan. I think it overreaches the potential comedy of the premise with ham-fisted political backdrop (set against Nixon winning the presidency) and I find it more interesting as a portrait of Los Angeles in the late-60s than as a character study.

035. (Feb 22) BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997, Paul Thomas Anderson) 90
Not sure how many viewing's this is for me but my grade is the same as it was last viewing and lower than it would have been when I was in my late teens.

028. (Feb 16) LOST 6.5: LIGHTHOUSE (2010, Jack Bender)* 59

036. (Feb 23) TRAINING DAY (2001, Antoine Fuqua)* 65
Second viewing, no change in grade or opinion. Very good set-up to this picture but the film becomes less interesting once Alonzo's plan starts to take prominence in the plot. Probably would have been better served by just updating COLORS and sticking to the procedural on the day training of one cop by another who is more senior and corrupted by his experience. I prefer Hawke's work here to Washington's more showy performance. Oh yeah, that's Eva Mendes and oh yeah she's naked.

037. (Feb 25) BREAKING AWAY (1979, Peter Yates) 69
Second viewing, first in about a decade. Much less impressed this time by the quirkiness of the character sketches and the on-the-nose dialogue (especially in the early scenes) but there is still enough truth in the central drama that the film plays as an enthusiastic populist film with strong performances.

038. (Feb 25) BOTTLE ROCKET (1996, Wes Anderson) 71
Third viewing but first in close to a decade. I was probably PRO on this before but now it seems too slight compared to the expansive later Anderson pictures (which play with many of the same themes explored here). Some of the relationships are too tidy and the interest in crime seems incidental and perfunctory (it was a pre-requite of sorts in the mid-90s, post-PULP FICTION indie film scene).

039. (Feb 28) THE CRAZIES (2010, Breck Eisner) 59
A little better than the Romero original but also much less interested in subtext and telling both sides of the story. Eisner takes an approach very similar to Snyder's with the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake showing much more interest in horror seeping into ordinary small town world than taking the horror into the next level and actually showing something about the society. On the otherhand, this is exceptionally well cast and fairly tightly edited (although I think some of the initial set-up scenes could have been cut).

029. (Mar 02) LOST 6.6: SUNDOWN (2010, Bobby Roth)* 62

040. (Mar 03) GREEN ZONE (2010, Paul Greengrass) No Grade
I worked on this film from Jan 2008 to July 2009. I have seen it a few hundred times before but this was my first theatrical viewing of the completed film with final dub, score and DI.

041. (Mar 05) THE LOVELESS (1982, Kathryn Bigelow & Monty Montgomery)* 68

042. (Mar 06) TERROR TRAIN (1980, Roger Spottiswoode) 59

043. (Mar 07) POINT BREAK (1991, Kathryn Bigelow)* 80

030. (Mar 09) LOST 6.7: DR. LINUS (2010, Mario Van Peebles)* 60

044. (Mar 10) K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER (2002, Kathryn Bigelow)* 55