Film Journal       March 2004
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GRANDADDY at The Catalyst, SC
3-01-04

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly) viewed 3-02-04 on TV (seen many times)
Grade
96 1952

2004 CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL March 3-14

SPARTAN (David Mamet) viewed 3-13-04 in theater
Grade
72 2004

SCARECROWS (William Wesley) viewed 3-17-04 on dvd-r (from Laserdisc)
Grade
69 1988

SHALLOW HAL (Bobby and Peter Farrelly) viewed 3-17-04 on TV (second viewing)
Grade
62 2001 (was 50s)

IDENTITY (James Mangold) viewed 3-18-04 on dvd
Grade
41 2003

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Michel Gondry) viewed 3-19-04 in theater
Grade
81 2004

DAWN OF THE DEAD (Zach Snyder) viewed 3-21-04 in theater
Grade
48 2004

FOUR NIGHTS OF A DREAMER (Robert Bresson) viewed 3-22-04 on dvd-r (vhs quality print)
Grade
83 1971

THREE COMRADES (Frank Brozage) viewed 3-22-04 on TV
Grade
72 1938

DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY (Rawson Marshall Thurber) viewed 3-23-04 in theater
Grade
43 2004
Workprint, projected digitally.

SECOND BAD VILBEL (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 1995
A note on music videos.

COME TO DADDY (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 1997

ONLY YOU (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 1998

FROZEN (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 1998

AFRIKA SHOX (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 1999

COME ON MY SELECTOR (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
NR 1998

WINDOW LICKER (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 1999

ALL IS FULL OF LOVE (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 1999

MONKEY DRUMMER (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 2000

FLEX (Chris Cunningham) viewed 3-24-04 on dvd
R 2000

GOTHIKA (Mathieu Kassovitz) viewed 3-26-04 on dvd
Grade
41 2003
Stupid thriller directed within an inch of its life by Mathieu Kassovitz, who must have seen how ridiculous the material was and decided to at least make it as visually impressive as possible.  This film would probably make a good double feature with Identity, since both are very polished thrillers that don't really work at all in the story department but at least they are pretty nice to look at.  I'm beginning to worry about the obviously talented Kassovitz since he seems to be aiming for a Hollywood hack job and he seems capable of so much more (La Haine is the film that got him a lot of attention but that was almost ten years ago), his last film Crimson Rivers seemed to suffer from a fate similar to Gothika - perhaps he should look to visual stylist extraordinaire David Fincher and note that he is nothing without a workable script to spring from.

THE RUNDOWN (Peter Berg) viewed 3-26-04 on dvd
Grade
38 2003

THE LADYKILLERS (Joel and Ethan Coen) viewed 3-27-04 in theater
Grade
57 2004

THE DRUM (Zoltan Korda) viewed 3-29-04 on video
Grade 66 1938