4/2/00
Eraserhead
(Dir.
David Lynch, 1977) cinemateque
The bizarre tale of
a young man sporting a pompadue. Very much an art film, one feels
like Lynch has some point here, but what it is exactly is a different manner.
This
explanation
is interesting, I don't know if Lynch agrees with it or not. I would
recommend seeing it to know about it but don't expect to enjoy it very
much.
5/2/00 Twin
Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (Dir. David Lynch, 1992)
cinemateque
The film mostly seemed
to be about filling in the TV series, which I haven't seen in so long I
don't really remember any details about it. However, in the movie
the whole issue of who killed Laura Palmer seems fairly straight forward
the, in contrast what happens with the detectives is almost completely
random. The film keeps ones attention, but doesn't leave one with
any take away experience afterwards.
5/2/00 Random
Hearts (Dir. Sydney Pollack, 1999: Harrison Ford)
cinemateque
Romantic movies are
not my usual cup of tea and this one is no exception. Its just to
formulaic for me the guy and girl meet each other, and they are both so
grand and they overcome all these obstacles so that they can live together
happily ever after. I mean its great for them and all; I just don't
want to spend 2 hours of my time on it. What I did find interesting
about this movie was how the guy and girl who meet each other because their
spouses where having an affair hit it off so well; if you think about it
this makes a lot of sense, you would probably like your partner's lover's
partner. Unfortunately the film didn't explore this issue further.
7/2/00 Pecker
(Dir. John Waters, 1998: Christina Ricci) cinemateque
I thought this was
a really funny movie, mostly because of the character of Pecker's younger
sister. The rest of the family and Pecker's friend are also entertaining,
much more so then the tension with the "city" folk. The plot is enough
to keep the story going and allow you to enjoy the characters.
9/2/00 Raging
Bull (Dir.
Martin Scorsese, 1980: Robert Di Niro, Joe Pesci) cinemateque
The filming and acting
in this movie is excellent; I don't know if there is another boxing movie
which conveys the sense of the fits so brutally, and Di Niro is almost
unrecognizable as he transforms form a 20 something boxing champ to a 50
something fat old man. On the other hand, this is your typical boxing
movie, no surprises, it may have made the mold I'm not sure, but it does
depict anything you don't expect to see. So if you already know that
a boxer is likely to have a bad home life and end up a loser outside of
the ring, then you aren't going to learn much form this film.
12/2/00
The
General's Daughter (1999: John Travolta)
cinemateque
This movie was a pretty
decent thriller, in that at least keeps you unaware of who the killer is
till the end. It mostly does this by having parts that don't make
much sense, but the ride moves along fast enough that this isn't
overly disturbing till you try to make sense of the plot after you watch
it. The general's daughter is a great character, you only wish that
she was in the movie more, and that she was given the complexity that she
deserves instead of just you only wish that she was developed further,
and wasn't always explained with
17/2/00
Wild
at Heart (Dir. David Lynch,
1990: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dem) cinemateque
What can be said?
This is a great movie. The Wizard of Oz feel, the bizarre characters,
the sex scenes between Cage and Dem, the dialogue; it all makes for a superb
flick.
22/2/00
Better
then Chocolate (Dir. Anne
Wheeler, 1999)
cinemateque
First let me make
a comment about Lesbian movies, or any type of underrepresented cultures
movies. The problem with all these movies is that the underrepresented
culture is so happy to be ported that there is usually not much more to
the movie then seeing the type of people in it. That being said this
movie is a much better then normal Lesbian movie. While the film
does spend to much time with the Lesbian characters being happy they are
lesbians, it also includes a number of other interesting characters, the
most important being the middle age recently divorced mom and the middle
aged transsexual, that add color and depth to the movie. The inclusion
of a range of sexual appetites makes this movie both an interesting portrayal
of the tension and comradre between different lifestyles, which leads to
many humorous moments. While the over all love story plot is a little
weak, the movie is funny and enjoyable to watch and made me miss the poly
sexuality of the Bay Area.
23/2/00
New
Jack City (1991: Wesley
Snipes, Ice-T) cinemateque
I was not particularly
excited about this film. It was interesting to look back at the early
90's and the crack scourge (or at least its depiction in media) as now
just a part of history. But the movie essentially tries to be a black
Scarface and it just isn't as good.
29/2/00
GoldenEye
(1995: Peirce Brosnan as James Bond) cinemateque
Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997: Peirce Brosnan as James Bond) cinemateque
The World is Not Enough
(1999: Peirce Brosnan as James Bond) cinemateque
These are really best
scene all three in a row, because then there is almost enough plot for
one movie. Good effects, good looking girls, but so weak in suspense.
That bad guys are shallow and there is no tension just special effect after
special effect, though many of these are really excellent.
13/3/00
The
Ninth Gate (Dir. Roman Polanski,
1999: Johnny Depp) Santa Barbara
The
flaws of this movie center around the fact that the plot is not very well
developed and that the main character just wanders through it with out
understanding what is going on. The Succubus however is excellent
and I enjoy almost all movies about the Devil.
20/3/00
The
Green Mile (1999: novel
by Stephen King) LA
This
was a compelling story and the only recent movie where I didn't find Tom
Hanks anoying. In particular John Coffey as the miracle working innocent
only wanting to do good but treated as a freak by society makes for a great
charachter. The refective mood and southern old world charm also
make the movie appealing.
26/3/00
American
Beauty (1999: Kevin Spacey,
Mena Suvari) Brussels
Superb
film.
31/3/00
The
Sixth Sense (1999: Bruce
Willis) cinemateque
5/4/00 Yana's
Friends (1999) cinemateque
6/4/00 End
of Day's (1999: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gabriel
Byrne) cinemateque
I was fairly happy
with this film, which one of course would never expect to be 'good'.
Gabriel Byrne mad a good devil, having fun and being terrifying in a just
much more powerful then you are manner. The ending while cliché
I thought was a nice touch, the sacrifice of the noble soldier saving the
day, very Christian. The movie however made me realize that it is
not fair to give the devil physical powers, when he can torture you into
submission where is the act of faith. The devil should only be able
to use lies (or truths) to lure people into making choices otherwise he
becomes not the advocate in Judaism, but the evil enemy of Ahuramazda in
Zoestrianism.
7/4/00
Rocky
Horror Picture Show (1975) cinemateque
It was fun to see
this performed in Israel, that the youth culture has crossed over all bounderies.
There were a few things done in Hebrew which I therefore infered where
local adaptations of the audeince participation of the film. The
scene was very young, I would say high school age with a decent percentage
showing outword signs of sexual independence. The film is silly and
fun, it gives the viewer a don't take things to seriously attitude and
a break from reality.
8/4/00
13th
Warrior (1999: Antonio Banderas, Omar Sharif,
novel by Micheal Crichton) cinemateque
This is not a particularly
good movie. It's badness isn't especially enjoyable either.
It's basically a story that is not very intriguing and at the end you can
only ask Why? The only part of the movie I like was that most of
the fighting was hitting people in the back and stabbing those who had
already fallen down. That was a nice bit of reality that you usually
don't see in movies about this time period; however, I have to be suspicious
that the point of the Micheal Crichton novel was missed by whomever turned
this into a movie.
22/4/00 Swimming
with Sharks (1994: Kevin
Spacey) video Karmit
23/4/00 The
Bone Collector (1999: Denzel Washington,
Angelina Jolie) cinemateque
This movie is suspensful
and entertaining, but I wouldn't call it a detective story because while
they are trying to figure out the clues that the criminal has left for
them, there is no way that they or the audience can figure out the killer
because the clues are only to the scene of the next crime, and thus could
be left by anyone. Thus while the film in lightly entertaining, I
felt a little cheated that it doesn't make the viewer think trying to solve
the puzzles like a good mystery should. The main problem here is
that there are no suspects so you can't try to guess the identity of the
killer.
25/4/00 Bringing
Out the Dead (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 1999: Nicolas
Cage) cinemateque
This is a great movie
about the life of an EMT. The burn out, the preassure, the ridculous
situation of being the front line in saving lives, often of people who
don't want to be saved, the movie captures all of this is a way that leaves
you both sympathetic and disgusted. Truly a great and disturbing movie.
25/4/00 Leaving
Las Vegas (1995: Nicolas Cage, Elizabeth Shue)
cinemateque
This classic about
a man killing himself and the hooker who loves him is great because it
gives no easy answers and shows us people whose lives are all messed up
in a sympathetic light. The one thing I find most interesting in
the film in the animosity towards Shue because she is a hooker. The
alcoholic who actually causes destruction is more accepted then the hooker
who really doesn't do anyone any harm except herself. And the harm to herself
is because it is a dangerous job and because she has low self esteem.
There really is no cause for our society to treat people who have turned
to sex work so unfairly, instead they should be given more help and support
then the alcoholic.
27/4/00 Mortal
Thoughts
(1991: Bruce Willis) cinemateque
Since I've made the
claim that there are no bad Bruce Willis movies, I now find my self
compelled to see them all, even if they don't look like they will be very
good, in order to check whether they invalidate my hypothesis. Unfortunately
Mortal Thoughts proved me wrong. Bruce Willis' performance is good,
and he is only third billed, so it may still be true that there are no
bad
movies
staring Bruce Willis; however, this movie is certainly not good.
The basic problem with this movie is that it is a mystery with no mystery.
The plot is who killed Bruce Willis' character Jimmy, and the great mystery
is whether it is his wife the obvious suspect, or her best friend (the
only other choice). Well I don't want to spoil the mystery, but its
pretty damn obvious.
28/4/00 The
Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
(Dir. Luc Besson, 1999: Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Dustin
Hoffman) cinemateque
I found this movie
really excellent, though it should be mentioned that it has lots of graphic
violence, of course war creates lot of graphic violence so to that extent
I think it actually creates a very real depiction. The whole subject
of Joan as a symbol of faith, is treated really well so that the viewer
has the experience of feeling Joan is really doing God's will versus her
just imagining that.
28/4/00 The
Fifth Element (Dir. Luc Besson, 1997: Bruce Willis,
Milla Jovovich) cinemateque
This was the first
time I've seen this film since it first came out. I remember when
I first saw it I was a little disappointed it because I thought the movie
was going to be sci-fi and them movie is a bit silly as far as sci-fi goes.
But the movie is clearly a fairy tale and with that perspective the
movie becomes very good. The way love is the only force powerful
enough to stop those who want to destroy all life, and the way the bad
guys say "money doesn't matter only life matter" create a story that is
supposed to teach or a lesson, or remind us of something we should already
know.
6/5/00 Gia
(1998 (TV): Angelina Jolie) video Karmit
Jolie is excellent
in this true story of a supermodels drug dependence and eventual death
form AIDS. A great film for any aspiring models, showcasing the less
often scene less glamorous side of the profession. Unfortunately I doubt
anything has been done to protect the young girls who are taken in and
chewed up by the field.
6/5/00 Dog
Day Afternoon (1975: Al Pacino) cinemateque
This is an interesting
film based on the true story of a bank robbery. It is an interesting
look into the robbers who are decent guys if having a little trouble (one
being gay and one being psycho, but veterans from the Veitnam war so we
forgive them their flaws), the common folk who side with the robbers against
the establishment, and law enforcement whose uses the means they can to
eliminate the threat of the bad guys. A sympathetic look at criminals
and the bad luck that can find them in a jam.
9/5/00 Ghost
Dog: The Way of the Samurai
(1999: Forest Whitaker) cinemateque
I am waiting to see
this movie again before commenting on it. It is very good, but I
need to see it again to be able to express what I feel about it.
2/6/00 Kikujiro
(1999)
Smedar
We went to try and
see Ghost Dog, but with the general lack of information at Smedar we walked
into the movie thinking it was Ghost Dog. The Japanese quickly gave
it away, but this movie was really funny when you don't have any idea what
to expect. I wouldn't say the movie was great, it has funny parts
and a general bizarre nature to it, but often is slow.
4/6/00 Et
Dieu... créa la femme (1956:
Brigitte Bardott) cinemateque
The title of this
flick is And God Created Women, its about this young thing who is driving
all the guys crazy, with her wild ways and overt sexuality. What
I found interesting about the movie is how attractive Bardott's character
Juliet is to me as well as all the male characters in the movie.
Aside from being a beautiful women, there is something about the way she
always wants to have fun, and is unable keep herself from getting into
trouble that is very compelling, even though it is quite easy to see falling
for this girl is only going to get one in trouble. I get put my finger
on exactly what makes this character trait so attractive which is why I
am intrigued by it. I don't know if you want to save this women from
herself, or tame her, or if she just seems like she'd be fun to spend time
with, but this movie does a nice job of capturing this personality for
the camera.
24/6/00 Girl,
Interrupted (1999: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie)
cinemateque
First off, Winona
gives a good performance in this movie because she is a whinny, confused
teenager the role that she can be masterful in. I enjoyed the movie
till the very end when I felt it got a little Hollywood, trying to give
the movie far more closure then is necessary, something's just shouldn't
be summed up in a paragraph. Otherwise the movie is your typical
inside the asylum, but who's really crazy movie. It takes the interesting
line that the main character can choose to be sane or not. The basic
tone of the movie is that most of these girls are in the asylum because
they find life to hard to deal with, though some of them are clearly nuts.
I generally like these types of movies since they beg the question, what
makes a person sane or insane. And then you ask yourself are you
really sane? I guess the answer to that is that sane people are the
ones who question their sanity, its the insane people who don't ask.
29/6/00 Henry
Fool (1997) cinemateque
This is the story
of a guy (Henry Fool) who moves into the basement of a garbage man and
convinces him that he can be a great poet. The story line is kept
very surreal and the soliloquies of Henry Fool are great dramatizations
of the mundane (mostly odes to alcohol and women, but also poetry).
It is also the story of the delusion who inspires other to find their greatness.
The movie creates poetry out of the lives of pathetic people, and also
depicts art as an unimportant and irrelevant endeavor.
30/6/00 Until
the end of the World
(1991) cinemateque
Cinemateque billed
this as the "ultimate road movie" and in many ways it lived up to this
bold claim. This is a long movie and a tale that keeps transforming from
traveling the world, to traveling the mind and soul. I like many
things about it and the feeling one has at the end is quite like a road
trip, one has experienced many things and doesn't know how to put them
together into a coherent picture and if such a thing is possible (or desirable).
30/6/00 Armageddon
(1998:
Bruce Willis, Steve Buscemi) cinemateque
The basic premise
of this movie, big asteroid going to destroy the Earth and only Bruce Willis
can save the day, should make it clear that one should not be expecting
great theater. This being understood, Armageddon is a fun movie because
there are a lot of damn funny scenes especially by Steve Buscemi.
The whole lighter side of the imminent destruction of all life is played
well here, while the serious side is of course given the intellectual maturity
of most Hollywood hits.
Mission to Mars (2000)
cinemateque
Basically this movie
sucks. I found nothing at all redeemable about it, there are a few cool
special effects, but there is no plot, no action, no point and nothing
of interest along the way.
1/7/00 South
Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (Dir Trey
Parker 1999) video Karmit
This is a brilliant
movie, it was my second time seeing it and I think I enjoyed even more.
The first time it takes a little while to get use to the fact that it is
a musical and that most of the South Park regulars aren't in it.
However the movie is really very clever and stands on its own. The
point of the movie, (as I see it) is to very cleverly done.
It's satire of political correctness, of criticizing form over substance.
It is a musical (the cornerstone of family values) that uses foul language
and it attacks the central American irony. That obscenities and sexual
content are
1/7/00 Dogma
(Dir
Kevin Smith, 1999) video Karmit
This premise of this
movie is that the Angel of Death and another Angel who have been thrown
out of Heaven are trying to use a loophole in the law to get back in.
5/7/00 Ghost
Dog: The Way of the Samurai
(1999: Forest Whitaker) Smedar
8/7/00 Midnight Cowboy (1969: John Voigt, Dustin Hoffman) cinemateque
8/7/00 Magnolia (1999: Tom Cruise) cinemateque
24/7/00 An Officer and a Gentleman (1982: Richard Gere) video Grandparents
28/7/00 X-MEN
(2000:
Patrick Steward) AMC Lenux (Columbus, OH)
29/7/00
Ghostbusters
(1984:
Bill Murry, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis) video James
2/8/00 But
I'm a Cheerleader (1999) Nickelodeon
10/8/00 Miller's
Crossing (1990) video Stan's Place
13/8/00 El
Mariachi (Dir Robert Rodriguez, 1992)
video Stan's Place
14/8/00 Space
Cowboys (Dir Clint Eastwood, 2000: Clint
Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones) River St. Cinema, Santa Cruz
I didn't enjoy this
movie because the plot was so thin, and the scientific unsound points so
glaring that I couldn't take it seriously. The basic idea is that
these old guys save the day when these young inexperienced kids can't.
Fine enough, but I found the execution of it really weak. The basic
plot was so shallow, somehow a director of NASA put up a Russian satellite
full of nuclear missiles, and then the physics were just all wrong, you
only have to get half way to the moon and then you coast the rest of the
way, wrong, you have to go to the Lagrange point which is the ratio
of the moon's mass over the earth's mass of the distance in-between (about
90% of the way) to be trapped in the moon's gravitational pull. There
was so much incorrect mumbo jumbo like this that the movie was just absurd
to me. Note that you can get away with mumbo jumbo on something like
Star Trek where you can say this is physics that will be developed in the
future so I know nothing about and the worst I can say is it sounds hookey,
you can't do it in a movie that is supposed to be taking place today.
18/8/00 The
Tao of Steve (2000) Nickelodeon, Santa Cruz
4/9/00 Stigmata (1999: Gabriel Byrne) DVD Brian Levine
4/9/00 Velvet Goldmine (1998) DVD Brian Levine
10/9/00 Toy Story 2 (1999) cinemateque
12/9/00 Cider House Rules (1999: novel by John Irving) video Jenny
16/9/00 Mononoke Hime (1997) cinemateque
18/9/00 Fresa y chocolate (1993) cinemateque
30/9/00 Buena Vista Social Club (Dir Wim Wenders 1999) cinemateque
30/9/00 Keeping the Faith (Dir Ed Nortan, 1999: Ben Stiller, Ed Nortan) cinemateque
1/10/00 Shanghai Noon (2000: Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu) cinemateque
1/10/00 Three Kings (1999: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube) cinemateque
7/10/00 Sleepy Hollow (1999: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci) cinemateque
12/10/00 High Fidelity (2000: John Cusak, Lisa Bonet) cinemateque
13/10/00 Gladiator
(2000)
cinemateque
This was a fairly
enjoyable movie with lots of action, heroism and a realistic plot.
Watching it at this time, the battle between the Roman legions against
the German barbarians that starts the movie made me think of Palestine's
fighting Israelis. Rome offers surrender to the Germans, but they
prefer to fight. It's not noble their defiance, its just stupid,
they die before the technical superiority of the Roman soldiers never having
a chance. When the notion that being slaughtered by overwhelming
force is stupid will be accepted by all people in the world will be a bright
day in the history of conflict.
Speaking of history
the only thing that really annoyed me about this movie is that it is grossly
inaccurate. When you make a historical story either make it accurate
or use characters who we don't know when and how they die. First
Cadamus fought with his father in Germany, Second an attempt on his life
by his sister and others failed he then ruled for 12 years before he was
strangled by a slave in his bath. Also he fought in the arena against
gladiators and won! So shall we just ignore all this when we are making
a movie. Does it matter? Yes it does. When the opportunity
to teach something (history, science) presents itself it should be used,
not treated as irrelevant.
15/10/00 Being
John Malkovich (1999: John Cusak, Cameron Diaz,
John Malkovich) cinemateque
20/10/00 Castillo
de la pureza (1973)
cinemateque
This is a Spanish
film called the Castle of Purity where a man has imprisoned his wife and
three kids in the house never letting them go out to keep the safe from
the corruption of the outside world. We find that the man himself
partakes of the corruption of the outside world, and that his ability to
keep his family 'pure' is in danger because of the demands of the world.
Possilbly more importantly his oldest two kids are long past puberty and
their frustrated sexual desire must find some outlet. And interesting
movie if a bit slow.
20/10/00 Man
on the Moon (1999: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito)
cinemateque
28/10/00 The Virgin Suicides (1999) Smedar
16/11/00 Spiklenci slasti (Dir Jan Svankmajer, 1996) cinemateque
16/11/00 The
Million Dolar Hotel (Dir Wim
Wenders, 2000: Milla Jovovich, Mel Gibson story by Bono)
cinemateque
I enjoyed this movie
a lot. It was somewhat existential in the way the characters are
caught up in being "characters" and are lead along paths that are out of
their control. It created a very sympathetic feel for these "characters"
who are humorous, tragic, and yet somehow beautiful in their attempt to
deal with the cruel world around them.
30/11/00 Down
by Law (Dir. Jim Jarmusch, 1986: Tom
Waits, Roberto Benigni) cinemateque
6/12/00 200
Cigarettes (1999: Ben Affleck, Courtney
Love, Christina Ricci) video Karmit's
A fun movie about
New Years Eve 1981. A cast of good characters looking for love and
a good time. I like the portrayal of many different view and situations,
those who want to fall in love with someone 5 minutes after meeting them,
and the guy who is cursed that every women falls in love with him.
The more at the end is relax, have a good time, and things will work out
okay. A lot of truth in a simple concept.
19/12/00 Die
xue shuang xiong (The Killer) (Dir. John
Woo, 1989; Yun-Fat Chow, Danny Lee)
This is a fairly entertaining
film about a hitman and cop who are very much alike, both trying to do
justice as they see fit, and both bound by codes of honor. There
are many humorous scenes, a couple really kitsch scenes and a story line
that while predictable moves along fast enough that it doesn't get boring.
Yun-Fat Chow does a good job as the Chinese hero.
20/12/00 The
Astronaut's Wife (1999: Johnny Depp)
cinemateque
This movie is pretty
bad, it does a decent job of making you feel spooked at times, and the
acting is fine, but the plot is just to simple and not enough happens to
make you stay interested. The story is a two liner that takes 2 hours
to tell. The end of my claim that all Johnny Depp movies are good.
23/12/00 Xiaoao
Jianghu (Swordsman) (1990)
cinemateque
I thought this was
a pretty great movie. Basically it is just fun, the action scenes are not
great, because it is more magic then martial arts, but the different fantastic
characters, the main hero who is always laughing at life and having fun,
and the beautiful, powerful and willful women all make watching the movie
a good time. Apparently the sequel is supposed to be a really great
movie.
25/12/00 Tong
fong sam hop (The Heroic Trio) (1992)
cinemateque
Billed as better then
Batman and The X-men I have to agree. While not as slick as the X-men
for special effects, this comic book story has all the right ingredients
in all the right proportions not to mention some gorgeous superheros.
29/12/00 American
Pie (1999: Mena Suvari) DVD Brigitte
29/12/00 Lola
Rennt (1998) DVD Brigitte