Pocket Cinephile

Avatar, James Cameron, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:19:00 +0000

James Cameron's big tent epic is best represented as a roadside attraction, and as spectacle it does impress. Narratively, Cameron draws from similarly pitched assimilation yarns (most specifically Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves), but unfortunately hangs his film on a rote, malnourished thesis of eco-advocacy and anthropological protectionism.

Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces), Pedro Almodovar, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Simply put, Almodovar re-confirms his standing as a contemporary master with this yarn of guilt, performance, and longing. Aside from an assured wrangling of the film's many-headed plot, the director paints every inch of his frames with a precision that lays plain an incredible skill.

La Mujer sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman), Lucrecia Martel, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:01:00 +0000

Over the course of three remarkable features, Lucrecia Martel has proven a master of hazy, somnambulant tones, an approach that is perfectly fitted to this elliptical pseudo-mystery. Maria Onetto is thrust into the foreground (both literally and figuratively) as the much troubled Vero, and her expressive, often expressionless, performance provides a canvas for the director's suggestions and innuendos.

A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:05:00 +0000

The Coen Brothers' filmography is littered with overmatched protagonists pitted against ever-worsening odds, a thematic trend carried through in this, their latest film. Here, the filmmakers' near-hapless hero is viewed through a religious (mid-century Judaism), rather than geographic, lens, and while the Coens' stylistic senses are as sharply tuned as ever, the almost clinical distance they maintain from their characters renders the film cold.

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex), Uli Edel, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:46:00 +0000

As with Steve McQueen's similarly unfulfilled Hunger, Edel's intentionally interchangeable revolutionaries simply never resonate. And while the RAF's monotonous campaign of violence (carried out, incidentally, by a gaggle of machine gun toting bombshells to make Russ Meyer blush) is played for the absurdity it would ultimately represent, such a pat subversion is unsatisfying after 140 minutes of shrill, abject terrorism.

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:02:00 +0000

Following in a straight line from the revelatory, war-defining combat films of Samuel Fuller, Bigelow's equally relentless and unapologetically non-contextual film seems poised to stand as the authoritative soldier's-eye-view document of contemporary, post-millennial conflict.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, Werner Herzog, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Herzog, operating within the skeleton of a police procedural, and directing as if from the unconscious, unleashes a manic, magnetic Nicolas Cage in an unsettling and wholly absurd world of the director's making.

Mammoth, Lukas Moodysson, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:07:00 +0000

As if taking faulty cues from the overly calibrated plotting of Guillermo Arriaga, the typically sure-handed Moodysson here draws too many neat, simplistic lines between his myriad narrative strands. Complicating matters further are the lifeless, precious characters charged with navigating the director's dead-eyed scenarios.

Antichrist, Lars von Trier, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:51:00 +0000

Antichrist is a veritable black hole of psychological tumult and visceral eruption oddly married with cabin-in-the-wood slasher film conventions. Lars von Trier's characters, however, are too narrowly drawn to bear the weight of such ravenous activity. The director's own staging of Euripides' Medea is a far more fully realized portrait of unfettered, vindictive angst.

Trash Humpers, Harmony Korine, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:27:00 +0000

Korine's is a baldly experimental, near-confrontational primal scream of a film. The director commits wholly to a primitivist film-as-found-object conceptualization, relentlessly suppressing the notion of artifice throughout, and, in turn, producing a highly artful and expressive work.

Das weisse Band (The White Ribbon), Michael Haneke, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:20:00 +0000

Haneke turns a sharply critical (and sumptuous) eye on pre-War Germany in this deliberately paced cultural indictment. The director's austere relation of severe, near-Calvinist village life is exacting, but at times undermines his film's narrative tension in its coldness.

The Roost (with Prey), Ti West, 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:55:00 +0000

West's first feature length foray into horror, The Roost has an undernourished narrative and is noticeably hamstrung budgetarily, but nonetheless showcases the director's deft handling of real-world thrills. Likewise, West's student film Prey (included in The Roost's DVD issue) is a more than capable execution of a single, terror-filled sequence.

The House of the Devil, Ti West, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:33:00 +0000

In an era of garishly over-styled horror films, West's satanic chiller is endlessly refreshing. The film wrings its near-constant restless mood from an unsettling scenario, efficient plotting, and smart, loaded compositions.

Pocket Cinephile - Horror 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:00:00 +0000

As we've done before, Pocket Cinephile has taken much of this month off to catch up on some of our favorite horror films, both old and new. Here's a list of what we've been watching while the leaves turn and the air crisps.

Carrie, Brian DePalma, 1976.

Poltergeist, Tobe Hooper, 1982.

Night of the Living Dead, George Romero, 1968.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper, 1974.

The Children, Tom Shankland, 2008.

The Changeling, Peter Medak, 1980.

Day of the Dead, Georeg Romero, 1985.

Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow, 1987.

Evil Dead II, Sam Raimi, 1987.

The Children, Tom Shankland, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:45:00 +0000

Shankland's film is taut, intense, and genuinely chilling. While certainly underwritten and suffering from some muddled story logic, this snowbound terror mounts enough moments of legitimate, well-wrought fright to make it worth the effort and Shankland a director to watch.

Sneak Peek - Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:37:00 +0000

This is the second clip we've seen from Werner Herzog's forthcoming re-imagining of 'Bad Lieutenant.' Suffice it to say that both clips are high on intensity and long on lunacy, with Cage channeling his inner Kinski. In short, we can't wait.

Stellet licht (Silent Light), Carlos Reygadas, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:59:00 +0000

Invoking by turns Malick's painterly compositions, Bergman's stark solemnity, and Dumont's agrarian primitivism, Reygadas' metaphysical domestic tale is a striking, singular, and difficult work.

2000: A Decade in Film

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:48:00 +0000

As we approach the end of the aughts, an unquestionably great decade for cinema, here are 40 films from the decade we here at Pocket Cinephile think will stand the test of time:

1. Twentynine Palms, Bruno Dumont, 2003 / France

2. Zodiac, David Fincher, 2007 / USA

3. Mulholland Dr, David Lynch, 2001 / France, USA

4. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominick, 2007 / USA, Canada

5. Le voyage du ballon rouge (Flight of the Red Balloon), Hou Hsiao Hsien, 2007 / France

6. Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006 / Germany

7. Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen, 2008 / Spain, USA

8. Junebug, Phil Morrison, 2005/ USA

9. Cache (Hidden), Michael Haneke / 2005 / France, Austria, Germany, Italy, USA

10. La niña santa (The Holy Girl), Lucretia Martel, 2004 / Argentina, Italy, Netherlands. Spain

11. All the Real Girls, David Gordon Green, 2003/ USA

12. Elephant, Gus Van Sant, 2003 / USA

13. I'm Not There., Todd Haynes, 2007 / USA, Germany

14. Gosford Park, Robert Altman, 2001 / UK, USA, Italy

15. No Country For Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007 / USA

16. Sous le sable (Under the Sand), Francois Ozon, 2000 / France

17. Y Tu Mama Tambien, Alfonso Cuaron, 2001 / Mexico

18. Before Sunset, Richard Linklater, 2004 / USA

19. Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood For Love), Wong Kar Wai, 2000 / Hong Kong, France

20. Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino, 2009, / USA, Germany

21. Elsker dig for evigt (Open Hearts), Susanne Bier, 2002 / Denmark

22. You Can Count On Me, Kenneth Lonergan, 2000 / USA

23. Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), Pedro Almodovar, 2002 / Spain

24. 25th Hour, Spike Lee, 2002 / USA

25. The Man Who Wasn't There, Joel and Ethan Coen, 2001 / UK, USA

26. Japon, Carlos Reygadas, 2002 / Mexico, Germany, Netherlands, Spain

27. Manderlay, Lars Von Trier, 2005 / Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, France, Germany, UK

28. The Saddest Music in the World, Guy Maddin, 2003 / Canada

29. Miami Vice, Michael Mann, 2006 / Germany, USA

30. Melinda and Melinda, Woody Allen, 2004 / USA

31. Ocean's Eleven, Steven Soderbergh, 2001 / USA

32. Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino, 2003-2004 / USA

33. The Aviator, Martin Scrosese, 2004 / USA, Germany

34. Amores Perros, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2000 / Mexico

35. Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, 2005 / Canada, USA

36. Dogville, Lars Von Trier, 2003 / Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, UK, Finland, Germany, Netherlands

37. Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien (With a Friend Like Harry), Dominik Moll, 2000 / France

38. Police Beat, Robinson Devore, 2005 / USA

39. Dans ma peau (In My Skin), Marina de Van, 2002 / France

40. Open Range, Kevin Costner, 2003 / USA

Sunshine Cleaning, Christine Jeffs, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:41:00 +0000

Jeffs' drama is neither gritty nor lighthearted, and it's that lack of commitment that renders her film workmanlike and flat. The generally reliable Amy Adams seems, for once, stretched in her role as a downtrodden single mother.

The Invention of Lying, Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:53:00 +0000

The directorial debut of Gervais, an otherwise talented comic, writer, and producer, is nothing short of a colossal failure. Baffling story logic, nonsensical plotting, and general ineptitude on most every level make this high concept fable an excruciating undertaking. What's more, the directors borrow Woody Allen's patented Windsor serif font for the credit sequence, an unforgivable offense given the waste that follows.

Coming Soon - Harmony Korine's ' Trash Humpers'

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:02:00 +0000

A look at the brutally disturbing trailer for PC favorite Harmony Korine's latest, Trash Humpers:

L'âge des ténèbres (Days of Darkness/The Age of Ignorance), Denys Arcand, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Arcand's film is a broad, at times clumsy, dystopian farce. In crafting an ultimately bleak vision, the director's machinations recall, by turns, the playful workplace revenge fantasies of Mike Judge and the darkest, most cheeky subversions of Lars Von Trier.

Aruitemo aruitemo (Still Walking), Hirokazu Koreeda, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Koreeda's measured compositions, often near facsimiles of Ozu, lend a certain gravitas to this domestic meditation. The film tangles with death, guilt, and family in a way not dissimilar from the recent films of Assayas and Desplechin.

Adventureland, Greg Mottola, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:48:00 +0000

Mottola's stoned carnival workers, both intellectually and chronologically, fall somewhere between Richard Linklater's varsity slackers and Whit Stillman's neurotic Fourierists. More importantly, they reside in the same casual, lived-in space that makes this naturalist Summer's tale as eminently watchable as either Dazed & Confused or Metropolitan.

Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brower) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:37:00 +0000

Tarantino cements his legacy as a singular visionary with Inglourious Basterds, a masterful series of tete-a-tetes birthed of the director's own peculiar universe, wherein claustrophobic chamber dramas masquerade as populist action set pieces with the audience none the wiser.