Grizzly Man (2005)

Description: This is a documentary about a man who lived among bears in a reservation in Alaska and got killed by one of them. His girlfriend was with him and got killed too.
Appraisal: Interesting documentary. It has been advertised (by the filmmaker inclusive, in the film itself) as an 'investigation about human nature', which any film can be said to be; anyway it's a bad move for a filmmaker to be telling his audience what his film is supposed to be. Treadwell was a left-hander, and suffered from a common tendency among left-handers, that of addiction. He somehow found a cure among the wildlife, living with bears and foxes; he probably died much later than he would have, had he stayed in the city drinking and drugging himself. The film wastes precious time interviewing a moronic fat guy (I don't remember what he was) who hints that Treadwell 'deserved to die' among other nonsense, and showing a ridiculous scene where the histrionic coroner hands over the dead guy's watch to one of Treadwell's former girlfriends. That - and the at times corny narration - aside, it's a watchable documentary that evokes some fictional films such as The Blair Witch Project, The Last Cannibal World (I haven't seen its allegedly better companion piece Cannibal Holocaust), the based-on-a-true-story Gorillas in the Mist, and all those films - the first of which may be The Lost World - featuring fierce battles between two huge monsters.
Rating: 51

David Copperfield (2000) (TV)

Synopsis (spoilers): David's father dies and his mother remarries. David is sent to a boarding school. His mother dies. David is taken out of school and forced to work. He flees to his aunt's house. He studies law and falls in love with his boss's daughter. He takes writing on the side. His boss dies and David marries his daughter. She gets ill and dies. David goes on a trip through Europe. He is now a famous novelist. He returns to marry his true love.
Appraisal: In general, this miniseries gave me the impression of being extremely well directed by an extremely competent person. I particularly liked the use of deep focus in the composition of some scenes. The actors were mostly good ones; what is most important, the leading actor played the part well. This is an entertaining story that keeps the interest throughout its 3 hour length. I have never read the 1850 novel by Charles Dickens; I may have read, perhaps not integrally, an abridged version when I was a kid, and I also saw the 1935 film.
Rating: 60

Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (2000)

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The Constant Gardener (2005)

Synopsis: English diplomat marries humanitarian worker. They travel to Africa where he assumes a position and she engages in the aid to sick people. She starts an investigation about a new drug against tuberculosis which is being force-tested on African subjects, and which would be released on European markets despite its harmful side effects, with the complicity of the English government.
Appraisal: The plot of this film is, plausibility-wise, the most idiotic piece of garbage I have ever witnessed in my many years of film viewing; for details, just read the 'hated it' part of the user comments on IMDb; it is the best place to find sensible film criticism in these days. On the level of abstract narrative, it is standard Thriller 101 fare, completely unoriginal and formulaic. Now, to every director who thinks a handheld camera lends an air of urgency and intimacy to a movie, making it more effective and true-to-life: you should be tied to a chair and forced to sit through many subsequent viewings of your movies - with no aspirin available. The film has abundant local color, including a village massacre whose link to the rest of the plot I could not figure out. I am giving it a relatively generous rating given my previous comments, because (1) the color cinematography is extremely good looking, and (2) it kind of entertains, albeit in a mindless way.
Rating: 30

The Blood Oranges (1997)

Synopsis (spoilers): The film is told in two different time frames, which are intercalated. Here, I will tell the events in a chronological fashion. Cyril and Fiona live on a tropical island with their kids. One day, they rescue a family from a van that flipped and they start a friendship with them. Fiona is immediately attracted to Hugh, a one-armed photographer who seems to be attracted to her but doesn't let it go to a physical level. Cyril, on the other hand, fucks Hugh's wife, Catherine, on their first night together. Fiona begins to feel frustrated by Hugh's refusal to fuck her. They play a game of seduction in which Cyril and Fiona are a completely open couple and try to bring Hugh and Catherine into their hedonistic world. One day at the beach Fiona gets topless and Catherine decides to do the same. They perceive the approach of Meredith, Hugh and Catherine's teenage daughter; Cyril meets her halfway and she manifests her awareness and disapproval of their mutual seduction games. Cyril takes her back to the house. Cyril and Hugh meet Rosella, a local girl who works as a domestic at Cyril's house and to whom Hugh is attracted; Hugh takes nude photos of her. As the situation between Hugh and Fiona doesn't seem to evolve, Cyril decides to have a talk with him; he incites Hugh to yield to his attraction to Fiona; Hugh warns Cyril that there is more going on than Cyril is aware of. Hugh claims that Fiona is in love with him and is ready to leave Cyril for him. Cyril tells Hugh to let love follow its course. One day, Hugh takes the four of them to visit some ruins; they go down into a cave, and in there they find a weird metal object, old and full of rust. They bring it to the surface and find out it is a chastity belt. They all are uncomfortable with it, except Hugh, who seems to derive some pleasure from their discomfort. On the following evening, Cyril goes to see Catherine in her room, but she behaves strangely, and rejects him, sending him away. Cyril refuses to go, and as he touches her, he discovers that she is using the chastity belt; Hugh forced her to put it on. Cyril tells her to stay put and wait for him while he goes out to find Hugh and talk him into his senses. He does that, and has an argument with Hugh, who is angry because he found out that Cyril had sex with Catherine; after some discussion, Hugh finally seems to agree with Cyril's liberal ideas, and decides to yield to his desires toward Fiona, and give Catherine a bit of freedom too. He goes to meet Fiona, and Cyril returns to Catherine and removes the chastity belt from her. As the dawn comes, Cyril leaves Catherine before Meredith awakes. When he gets to his house, he finds Hugh and Fiona fucking. He is glad with it, and stands for a few minutes outside the window, listening to them make love. He does not interrupt them. The next day, all four of them are happy on the lawn, celebrating the wonders of free love. The following night, Fiona alerts Cyril that Hugh is missing. Cyril tells her not to worry, but she is certain that something is wrong, because Catherine is sleeping in her room, and that means Hugh is all alone; she thinks something may have happened to him. Cyril goes out in search of Hugh; he goes to Hugh's photographic studio, where he usually spends hours on his own. When he enters, he finds Hugh hanging from a rope, unconscious. They cut the rope and try to revive him, but it is useless: he is dead; it turns out that he accidentally choked himself to death while masturbating to Rosella's photo (choking oneself while masturbating is known to increase pleasure during orgasm; this practice is shown in other films such as Ken Park (2002), and, if memory serves me, Ai no corrida (1976)). Fiona reasons that Catherine will be in no condition to take care of her kids during some time, due to her state of shock, and decides to leave the island with them, along with her own kids. The following events are shown intercalated with the former ones, during the course of the movie. Cyril and Catherine stay on the island, but separated; Catherine remains in a hospital, or asylum, to recover; she is in such a state that she will speak to no one. Meanwhile Rosella turns down her suitors, perhaps in the hope of being loved by Cyril, but he develops psychological impotence, and doesn't get near her. He visits Catherine often; eventually, she recovers and leaves the hospital. They wait for the return of Fiona and the kids, and perhaps the restart of their lives.
Appraisal: I like the work of this couple of filmmakers, which seems to have a thematic coherence that is not so common nowadays; their films are mostly inspired by literary works (in this case a 1971 novel by John Hawkes), to which they lend a strong cinematic flavor. That being said, I must acknowledge that this is not among their best work to date; much of the film relies on voice-over, which means that they were not able to translate it into cinematic form. We tend to get a little bored, especially in the first half of the film. On top of it, I was not too impressed with the performances; some of them were better than others, but somehow they seemed to be hitting on one single note, which becomes kind of monotonous. The film is not half bad, though. Its theme is the search for pleasure, and I don't think anyone would consider it irrelevant or uninteresting per se; the characters are believable and interesting, yet somewhat underdeveloped. The score and cinematography are very good. The dialog is well written, both in a literary sense and in a functional one, as it illustrates the characters' personalities and spur the evolution of the drama.
Rating: 58

Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (2005)

English title: Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.
Synopsis: When the prospect of victory seemed to vanish in the horizon, Germans grew restless. A group of students started distributing pamphlets, but - helas - they got caught.
Appraisal: This cold and impersonal film would benefit from some background on the characters that would show us who they were. Anyway the message of this movie seems to be that not everyone in World War II Germany was a lobotomized nazi; I guess this is good for the Germans. Maybe another message is that if you are raised by a brave father, chances are you will be courageous too. And then there are the final photos of the real Sophie, which make for the truly moving moments of the film, and also for the realization that she looks nothing like the actress who plays her like an automaton. The opposite happens with her brother, whose resemblance to the actor that plays him is remarkable. One doubt: if the whole philosophy behind the resistants' actions was that one should follow one's 'conscience', why would they, in their final hour, say 'It was not in vain'? People who act according to their consciences should not worry about results.
Rating: 40

Ae Fond Kiss... (2004)

Synopsis: In Glasgow, we are introduced to a family of Pakistani ascent; the eldest son falls in love with a Caucasian music teacher; the problem is that his family is very closed and does not approve of marriage outside the Pakistani community. The teacher faces some problems of her own, but they are perhaps of a lesser dimension.
Appraisal: Although it manages to address, in a concise, compressed form, many angles of the issue at hand (inter-ethnic love, immigrants, tradition vs. modernity, etc.), I am forced to say that in terms of narrative it is a dreary succession of predictable scenes. What strikes me as odd is the behavior of the white girl; she jumps to the guy's bed in no time at all, even sets him up in a trip to Spain, and when he reveals his previous commitment, she throws a fit. Honestly, I wouldn't want to spend another minute, let alone a lifetime, with such a person, no matter how good the sex was - by the way, this film has the most tedious sex I have seen in a film, ever. After one of their (many) break-ups, she says to him - 'I almost jumped to bed with a perfect stranger, because I was lonely' - big surprise, that is exactly how they started their own relationship. Mind you, I am not saying there is anything morally reppoachable in this, it's just that the attitude she assumes doesn't make sense - not even as hypocrisy. On the side of the guy's family, everyone is a stereotype, so there is not much point analysing them.
Rating: 35

Vanity Fair (2004)

Synopsis: A girl from a poor family is hired as a governess to a rich family and astonishes everyone with her education and intelligence. She changes from house to house until she falls in love with her master's son and marries him. Her husband goes to war, is disinherited by his rich relatives, and goes broke. But she must survive somehow...
Appraisal: I have the book at home, and have never read it; it was written by William Makepeace Thackeray and first published in serialized form in 1847. The book is enormous and I wondered how they would be able to fit so much material into two hours and 20 minutes of film. And indeed they seemed to have left a lot out because the film is full of ellipses and time jumps. So much concision has rendered it shallow and unaffecting; it feels like a long trailer. It doesn't help that the director has a penchant for flashiness and fills the film with songs and exotic dances that add nothing to the story.
Rating: 40

Elizabethtown (2005)

Synopsis: A shoe designer is fired after a sneaker model he designed fails to sell and loses his company a fortune. He decides to kill himself but is interrupted by the news that his father has died. He is commissioned by his mother to travel to the city where his father lived and bury him. On the plane he meets a charming young stewardess.
Appraisal: This film's badness is practically indescribable, so I'll just leave it at that.
Rating: 6

Red Corner (1997)

Synopsis: An American corporate lawyer working on a telecommunications transaction in China is framed for the murder of a model who spent the night with him. His defense lawyer is a good-hearted, principled young Chinese woman.
Appraisal: Preposterous at its core, yet so unashamed in its distortions and so expertly done that it becomes marginally enjoyable for its camp value.
Rating: 35

Sunshine State (2002)

Synopsis: The issue of real estate enterprises in Florida is tackled in this film, as well as the ecological and cultural changes they entail. Several groups of characters are introduced that have a relation with said issue. A divorced restaurant and motel owner, whose father is a retired diabetic ex-cop and whose mother is a theater coach, and who was married to a rock singer, and who is breaking up with a golf player, and who begins a relationship with a landscape designer for a big real estate company. An infomercial actress who left town when she got pregnant at 15 - from a football player who is now a real estate and car salesman - and then lost the baby and got married to an anaesthesiologist, and is back to visit her mother who is taking care of an orphaned nephew who is facing a trial for arson. A retired doctor who is campaigning against the development of a big real estate project on the island. Some rich golfers who play at a field where once was the island cemetery. An event organizer and host who is married to a suicidal man.
Appraisal: Since we're dealing with real estate here, let me use a related metaphor and say that this film is just like a prefabricated house. Everything is completely schematic and clichéd, and there is not one character that resembles or speaks like a real person. The author effects a didactic exposition of the problems faced by a certain kind of town, using all the techniques of good old "socialist realism". The characters speak like in a play - the most conspicuous instances of this are the ex-cop, the golfers and the retired doctor; but in fact, in varying degrees, this applies to all characters in the movie. Every character is made to embody a certain stereotype that conforms to the author's preconceptions of a certain class of individuals: the reactionary, the rich, the liberal, etc. A film without a single shred of life or spontaneity. It's simply a statement of how well informed the writer is (or thinks he is) about "important" social issues.
Rating: 25

Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)

Synopsis: A woman starts investigating the mysterious death of a little boy who lived in the same building as she. She finds that a secretive mining company may be behind the killings.
Appraisal: Apart from the initial snow sequence, this film is just awful. The plot is absurd, the characters are poorly written, the visuals are unremarkable, you name it.
Rating: 9

Étienne-Jules Marey: 400 films chronophotographiques (1890-1905)

DVD containing very short films made mostly with scientific purposes, depicting athletes in motion, insects, animals, etc. The technology which was used to make the films predates the inventions of Edison and Lumière. Some of the films are available online. Also in the DVD is a 40 minute documentary about Marey; it is excellent and I intend to go back to it in the future, in order to better understand the narration in French and the technological aspects described.

Hysterical Blindness (2002)

Synopsis: Two best friends are singles in their 30s and go to a bar almost every night in search of a male companion. Beth lives with her daughter and seems to never have been out of adolescence; Deb, who is the main focus of the movie, lives with her mother who waits tables at a diner. Deb is desperate to find a man and in her desperation she is incapable of reading men's real feelings toward her. She meets a guy who is not really interested in her - other than sexually, that is - and starts fantasizing about him.
Appraisal: Modest drama about feminine problems; the female characters are exaggerated, and the male ones are poorly defined. It's not without merit, though; its narrative is fluent and it has a certain amount of insight into women's psychology.
Rating: 48

Afraid of the Dark (1991)

Synopsis (MAJOR SPOILERS! DON'T READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM): The first 30 minutes or so of the movie show a young boy whose mother and half-sister are both blind; there is a mad man hurting - and sometimes killing? I don't remember - blind women with a razor; the boy wanders around in his neighborhood spying on people; several creepy characters such as the locksmith, the window washer, or his half-sister's fiancé look like they could be the killer. Halfway to the movie we get to know that this was all in the boy's imagination. The fact is, there is no blind person in the movie; the boy himself is losing his eyesight and will go blind if he doesn't go through an operation. His mother is pregnant and delivers a girl on the same day his half-sister gets married. Every time the boy takes off his thick glasses he hallucinates. At one time he pictures a friendly dog as a menacing one and pierces his eye with a knitting needle, killing him. When his newborn sister comes home, he kidnaps her to the cemetery, holding one knitting needle in his hand. The whole truth about the boy's condition then dawns upon his stepfather, who finds his baby daughter is missing and goes after the boy. Next thing we see, the boy has just undergone the operation and is fine. We learn that the baby was rescued safe and sound.
Synopsis: Psychological (perhaps psychiatrical would be a better term to describe it) thriller that is quite atmospheric in the first third, then goes through a plot twist and then goes nowhere. There is some symbolism into the story (blind people = the boy is being neglected, or becomes "invisible"), and it surely gives the film a certain depth, but there is some gratuitousness to the events which prevents it from becoming more than an exercise without much weight or consequence.
Rating: 42

Buffalo Soldiers (2001)

Synopsis (mild spoilers): An American base in Germany in 1989. Army officials are involved in drug dealing. A new sergeant will try to put an end to it. A corporal is in charge of cooking the drug. He and his friends stumble upon a load of weapons inside some army trucks whose occupants were killed. He snatches the guns and schemes to trade them and make a fortune. He falls in love with the sergeant's daughter.
Appraisal: Funny military satire with a few romantic scenes.
Rating: 59

Bin-jip (2004)

English titles: 3-Iron; Empty Houses.
Synopsis (MAJOR spoilers!): A wanderer breaks into empty houses to sleep, watch TV, etc. He goes away before the owner returns. He doesn't take anything from the house (except the food he eats) and makes small repairs. He also takes photos of himself next to some family picture. One day he meets a woman in one of the houses he breaks into. She is an unhappy wife who is constantly beaten and oppressed by her husband. They start a friendship. When her husband returns she flees with the wanderer. One day they break into a house that has a corpse in it. They bury it. Unfortunately, the relatives of the deceased arrive and the couple is arrested. She is released but he must serve a prison sentence for breaking and entering as well as abandoning a dead body. After some time he is released and avenges himself on all the people that mistreated him. Then he goes back to his beloved one. P.S. did I mention that this goofball has the hobby of hitting golf balls, and that he accidentally kills someone inside a car with one of his balls? And that he is able to climb, lizardlike, prison cell walls? And that the film ends with a caption saying "Sometimes it's hard to tell reality from dream"?
Appraisal: Another uninspired effort from the maker of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. Both films received a favorable critical response, go figure. This one was less praised, it seems, and is indeed the worse of the two, a boring and often ridiculous love story with surreal pretensions that trips at its own silliness.
Rating: 28

Clambake (1967)

Synopsis (MAJOR spoilers!): A rich guy quits his job in his father's oil company and rides away in his car looking for a girl who will love him for what he is, rather than for his money. He meets a guy in a gas station who would give anything to be rich. They decide to swap identities. Then they check in at a fancy hotel; the faux-riche is lodged in the presidential suite while the faux-pauvre takes the place of the other guy as a waterskiing instructor. Also staying at the hotel is a boating champion who is the favorite in an upcoming boat race. The faux-pauvre decides to restore an old boat and participate in the race. When he was a chemicals researcher in his father's company, he developed a product to harden wood, which he intends to perfect and use on his boat's hull, in order to prevent it from collapsing under the water pressure, as had happened previously. Not only he wins the race, but he gets the girl too.
Appraisal: Romantic comedy with some moderately entertaining segments, like the waterskiing, the clambake, the boat race, and maybe others I can't recall. Its plot premise is not uninsteresting but the development is generally mediocre. The musical numbers are of varying quality; about one third is good, another third is fair and the rest is static and dull.
Rating: 39

L'adversaire (2002)

English title: The Adversary.
Synopsis (mild spoilers): A man builds a deceit about his life for his family and friends. He claims to be a medical researcher for the O.M.S. but does not work at all. He cons his relatives, in-laws and even an ex-lover into giving him their money for 'investing' and steals it. How far will he go to cover up his fraudulent ways?
Appraisal: This is a chilling story based on real events. The development of the film proceeds in a somewhat mechanical fashion, but that's probably because this is how the main character's mind works, and the film succeeds at making us participate in his own terrifying logic, to which he will abide to the tragic conclusion. Just as I did with Roberto Succo (2001), I praise this film's skill in telling the story of a sociopath and making us believe in it, but, considered as works of art, I find both films a tad limited, serving more as a vehicle for a wonderful leading performance than as a thought-provoking exposé of the dark corners of modern society.
Rating: 63

The 4th Floor (1999)

Synopsis: Jane moves to the apartment where her late aunt lived. Strange things start to happen to her. The main problem seems to be the tenant from the apartment below her who is never seen; Jane starts getting messages allegedly coming from her, complaining about the noise she makes.
Appraisal: This is an easy to watch, well made yet fairly conventional thriller.
Rating: 50

Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)

Synopsis: Two cops fight a Yakuza lord who intends to establish a drug operation in the USA from Los Angeles's Little Tokyo.
Appraisal: Actioner that features fights, gunplay and a sickening amount of violence, yet has some level of professionalism into it and at least one interesting sequence, namely the breaking into the villains' HQ to save a girl from committing seppuku.
Rating: 30

Buongiorno, notte (2003)

English title: Good Morning, Night.
Synopsis: Terrorists kidnap the prime minister. They keep him in an apartment. They demand the release of political prisoners. One of the terrorists is a woman who has doubts about killing their prisoner after the government refuses to comply with the terrorists' requests. But they kill him anyway.
Appraisal: This is an attempt to give a dramatic shape to a true story, but the result is flaccid. I didn't get to understand, let alone care about any of the characters.
Rating: 37

Paid in Full (2002)

Synopsis: Ace is a quiet young man working in a laundry house. His friend Mitch is a drug dealer. Ace's sister dates a drug dealer too. When Mitch and the other drug dealer go to prison Ace starts dealing.
Appraisal: Slightly above average drama about drug dealers. It is well done but the subject and situations are becoming déjà vu.
Rating: 56

Stage Beauty (2004)

Synopsis: In 1660, women are not allowed to perform in public; female parts were played by men in disguise. One day the king revokes this prohibition and actors who played women are faced with unemployment.
Appraisal: Mostly mediocre drama that shows its theatrical origins. The first half is mildly interesting, as the text serves as a vehicle for some reflections on acting. The second half cannot sustain the interest and, lacking a better plot driver, resorts to romance.
Rating: 38

Boris and Natasha (1992)

Synopsis: A scientist from a small communist country invents a microchip that has the power to revert time for a few seconds. He flees to the USA and is sought by agents of his government.
Appraisal: Poor comedy based on secondary characters from a sixties' cartoon.
Rating: 26

O Trapalhão nas minas do rei Salomão (1977)

Synopsis: Three street wrestlers agree to help a young woman find her archeologist father who went missing while searching for King Solomon's mines. Another man joins them. They face several obstacles and dangers during their journey, the most terrible of which is a witch who will do anything to recover the medallion that the treasure seekers hold and which contains an important clue to the treasure's location. They overcome all these obstacles and many more; they, for instance, must cross a lake by walking on a log without falling neither to the left - they would get younger - nor to the right - they would get older; lastly they engage the help of an old tractor, which is used to destroy an entire African village where the archeologist is being held captive.
Appraisal: I was taken by surprise by the overall poverty of this kids-targeted adventure. Yet it has an undeniable liveliness to it that was probably partially responsible for its big success at the time of its release. I say 'partially' because one of the reasons for said success is the casting of then-famous TV comics, whose mass appeal was practically immediate. With little regard to logic, both in plot and in dialog, it is nowadays more suitable for group viewing, whereby people would gather to laugh at its primitiveness and flaws. For example, at one point, the girl in distress asks: "Why doesn't he turn this medallion over and free us?" and it's hard not to laugh, since there is indeed no plausible reason for them to keep that medallion - its information could have been copied long ago, and since it would be going back to its original owners, it would not tell them anything they hadn't already known.
Rating: 20

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)

Synopsis: A vice cop investigates the kidnapping of the teenage daughter of a Japanese executive working in Los Angeles. The kidnapper is a pimp who uses underage girls.
Appraisal: Mostly routine B-film that exaggerates on the stereotypes. It is not completely negligible, as it analyses some more complex situations. One of them is the cop's issue with his own daughter's emerging sexuality and how this issue relates to his xenophobia; another one is the Japanese executive's confused approach to sex, which gets even more confused when he is transplanted to a society that is different from his own. In the action department, it also has some interesting bits, particularly a sequence with a junkyard crane. All that being said, I must take points from my rating because the film relies too much on nastiness, which is done not because it is required in order to tell the story but with the intention to pander to the audience's baser instincts.
Rating: 35

Roll Bounce (2005)

Synopsis: A bunch of African American kids are very fond of disco skating but the disco house in their neighborhood is closing down. They start going to another place at the other side of town. They establish a rivalry with a local group and enter a tournament to decide who is the best skating team.
Appraisal: The first half is pretty funny and upbeat, well written, well directed, well choreographed and well acted - even though it is not the actors themselves who do the skating, for the most part, I guess. Of course it's a recycling of clichés from several 70s and 80s movies, but it is well done and works. The second half loses a little bit of steam but it is still watchable.
Rating: 54

The Good Shepherd (2006)

Synopsis: A Yale graduate is invited to be one of the leading players of the OSS in Europe during WWII, then after the war he is invited to be one of the leading players of the CIA. All this is intertwined with an investigation of a tape containing a conversation that might have some relation to a mole and the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Appraisal: This film's plot is on a comic book level - precisely Hollywood's standard level for most of its history (during the 60s and maybe also 70s it got upgraded a little, then reverted to this in the 80s, and is presently on a consistent downward course). Which is funny, since it is told against a background of grand historical events and features big real organizations - why not tell a more true-to-fact depiction of these events? There are several far-fetched elements, but let's just mention one: why would someone who is sending a revealing tape murk its contents in such a way that it requires an expert forensic investigation in order to understand what it is revealing? To look for other inconsistencies or logical flaws, go to IMDb and probe the User Comments or the Message Boards. That being said, I don't agree that the film is tedious, or that the acting is deficient. On the contrary, it is entertaining (on a comic book level) and well acted. And it has one or two things to say about the psyche of spies, although in the same somewhat dumbed-down manner.

Rating: 58

Alila (2003)

English translation for the title: Story plot.
Synopsis: Several characters living in a lower-class building and their stories. A divorced couple whose son has deserted the Israeli army; a woman who uses one of the apartments for sexual encounters with a married man; etc.
Appraisal: This film has a poor execution and uninteresting characters; its only possible interest is that it offers a revealing glimpse into some aspects of Israeli life. Based on the 1997 novel "Returning Lost Loves" by Yehoshua Kenaz.
Rating: 39

The Secret (2006)

Description: "Motivational" or "self help" pseudo-documentary featuring a lot of mumbo jumbo delivered by a bunch of ludicrous quacks bearing equally amusing qualification descriptions such as 'metaphysician' or 'quantum physicist' and boasting fictitious degrees such as DD or MscD. As I watched the film I supposed they were just actors; later on, I came to realize that, no matter what they call themselves, that's just what they are after all. Unlike the similarly themed and structured "What the Hell Do We Know?", this one does not feature funny animations. There are two slightly different versions of this film, with different women speakers at a few points.
Rating: 2

Going Back (2001)

Synopsis: The remnants of a Vietnam war platoon agree to take part in a documentary to be shot on the places at which they fought. They agree to reenact a crucial moment in war in which their leader apparently caused the deaths of some of his own men by American artillery.
Appraisal: Heavily melodramatic, with all the plot twists that the genre entails, but sporting a moral ambiguity that is atypical of the genre, flaunting an anti-war message here, praising army comraderie there, even, at the last scene, complete surrendering to the charms of military discipline. The action is competently handled, even engaging occasionally; the cinematography is good. Don't look for an accurate depiction of the Vietnam war, though; this is not what the film is about.
Rating: 41

28 Days Later (2002)

Synopsis (with MAJOR spoilers): Some animal rights activists free some infected lab animals who then spread a disease that causes the infected to behave violently and bite others thus contaminating them. Soon everyone is infected except for a few. A guy wakes up in a hospital not knowing what has happened. He goes out and sees a deserted London. Later he meets a woman and a guy who are not infected. The guy gets infected and is killed by the woman. Then they encounter a dad and his teenage girl. They hear a radio transmission telling of a camp that promises the 'solution to infection' and head to the appointed place. Arriving there, the dad gets infected by blood dripping from a corpse on a roof. He is shot dead by soldiers coming from the camp. Then they all follow him and the other soldiers to the camp. There they soon find out that the women were lured there with the sole purpose of serving as sexual objects to the soldiers. The guy doesn't go along with it and is sentenced to death, but escapes. Later he returns to the camp to find out that an infected prisoner they were keeping there has escaped and is attacking everyone in sight. He manages to rescue the two women and they flee the camp but the guy gets shot. The women treat him and he gets well. Soon the infected are all dead from starvation. The three uninfected survivors signal to a plane to rescue them.
Appraisal: Derivative horror that didn't really impress me much. The cinematography is fine, and the film is well filmed and well edited. All in all, just average entertainment, nothing to take home, at least not for me.
Rating: 48

Journey to Shiloh (1968)

Synopsis: Seven Texan youngsters decide to ride to Virginia to enlist in the Confederate army. Along the way, they meet various kinds of people.
Appraisal: What stands out in this film is the solid direction and the well-written dialog. That alone makes it watchable despite the somewhat trite storyline and the obvious production flaws like the insertion of stock footage in battle sequences. One can sense a veiled reference to the Vietnam war and the general discomfort felt at that time regarding that stupid war. Based on a 1963 novel by Will Henry (pen name of Henry Wilson Allen, aka Heck Allen).
Rating: 54

Last Night (1998/I)

Synopsis: The world is going to end in 24 hours. People know about it. One character wants to spend the end alone but gets involved with a woman who wants to get to her husband but has no means of transportation to do it. Another character wants to fulfill all his sexual fantasies.
Appraisal: Interesting premise, not so well explored. It has its moments though.
Rating: 48

American History X (1998)

Synopsis: A skinhead is idolized by his younger brother, goes to prison after killing some guys who tried to steal his car, then the prison environment provokes some inner changes in him.
Appraisal: A little manipulative and at times unconvincing. On a basic melodramatic level, it has some interest. Terrible ending though.
Rating: 49

Ong-bak (2003)

English titles: Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior; Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior.
Synopsis: In a village in Thailand the head of a Buddha statue is stolen; the statue is attributed a protective function for the village, and thus the village's bravest young man is sent to the capital to recover the stolen head.
Appraisal: In terms of story, nothing really memorable happens; the characters are simply caricatures. The fights are in great quantity; the choreography is good yet not exceptional; the fighters are uniformly excellent; there is also some moderately entertaining non-fighting action, such as a street foot chase and a competition on a tree.
Rating: 45

La comunidad (2000)

English title: Common Wealth.
Synopsis: A realtor decides, along with her husband, to sleep over at one of the apartments she is trying to sell. A series of incidents leads her to a fortune which was hidden in a dead man's apartment in the same building. The only problem is that the other dwellers of the building know about the money and they don't take long to find out that she has it.
Appraisal: This film suffers from the same problems of this director's other films, only in a smaller scale, it seemed to me. The problems I am referring to are a certain amount of triteness in the situations he devises, a few of which he uses repeatedly, and the complete absence of subtlety to express the characters' feelings or thoughts. But this time around I think he has a sufficiently interesting premise and a sufficiently variegated array of characters and situations to sustain the viewer's interest until the end. Don't expect much insight or refinement though.
Rating: 52

Little Miss Marker (1980)

Synopsis: A gambler places a bet with a bookmaker but since he doesn't have the betting money he leaves his 7 year old daughter as a guarantee (a marker, as they call it).
Appraisal: Based on a 1932 story by Damon Runyon, this movie has some fine comedic moments along with not so fine ones. Anyway it is worth watching for the one-liners. Visually, it is nothing to rave about and its mise-en-scene seems stale at times. Matthau is typecast yet again as the misanthrope with a heart of gold; Andrews is lovely yet miscast as the love interest.
Rating: 51

Fratello sole, sorella luna (1972)

English title: Brother Sun, Sister Moon.
Synopsis: Francesco returns from war ill. He slowly recovers, but his subsequent acts scandalize the town of Assisi. He then retreats to a ruined church vowing to rebuild it; many other youths soon join him.
Appraisal: Justly panned for its glossy style, in which gorgeous visuals and pop songs replace authenticity and depth, this biography has nonetheless marginal merits that got more or less obscured by that massively negative critical response. While delivering the events in a manner as to ostensibly comply with the majority of viewers' expectations, it subtly, through clever scripting and cast direction, exhibits glimpses of an alternative view of the central character's motivations. For example, the 'official' version the movie conveys is that, whereas the whole town considers Francesco to be crazy, he is actually breaking with society's imprisoning rules, and seeking a deeper meaning to life. But, on the other hand, when Bernardo visits Francesco on the ruined church, the behavior and facial expressions of Francesco are typical of a deranged man. Later in the movie, Paolo, in a fit of rage, accuses Francesco of faking his 'lunacy' or 'religiousness' in order to conceal his cowardice in battle; this is a very interesting hypothesis that would make for a much more interesting approach. In another scene, after the papal audience, a cardinal commends the Pope for his cunning in using Francesco to attract the lower classes back to the Church. The simple fact that these bits of dialog exist lifts the film from mere corny propaganda. There are several other instances of good writing throughout the film. At a superficial, melodramatic level, it is mostly well directed and makes for a watchable spectacle.
Rating: 51

Tmavomodrý svet (2001)

English title: Dark Blue World.
Synopsis: The action is set on two time frames that intercalate, 1939 (and subsequent years until 1945) and 1950. The central character is a Czechoslovak man; in 1939 he becomes an allied pilot in England. In 1950, he is a prisoner in Czechoslovakia.
Appraisal: Like this writer/director duo's previous Kolja, this is a festival of clichés. I liked this one a little better, perhaps due to its theme. I can't find much to say about it; it is limited, but works well as mild entertainment.
Rating: 51

I Want You (1998/I)

Synopsis: At a coastal town, several characters cross paths. Young Martin has just been released on parole, and he begins stalking his former girlfriend Helen, who is also the object of affection of a 14 year old boy who lives with his sexually active sister.
Appraisal: This is clearly an unsatisfactory film, that touches upon subjects like guilt and desire but don't fully explore them; also, the character of Helen, whose behavior has a surprising evolution in the film, is only sketched and we never really get to know her or her motivations well; has she been through a traumatic experience in her past? We can only guess. The cinematography has some yellowish filtering that gives the picture a nice look and conveys a mysterious mood.
Rating: 46

The Lost Son (1999)

Synopsis: A private detective is hired to find the missing son of a wealthy couple. As he advances his investigations, he discovers that the person he is looking for may have been executed by the members of a child exploitation ring.
Appraisal: This crime drama is not very well written, his development being marred by some inconsistencies in character behavior and some poorly executed sequences of confrontation between the main character Xavier and the thugs. He doesn't seem to be especially competent to single-handedly carry out the dismantling of the entire criminal organization. That being said, the plot development manages to sustain the viewer's interest, which is already something.
Rating: 35

Spy Hard (1996)

Synopsis: A retired secret agent goes back in service to rescue the daughter of a former colleague from the hands of a lunatic who threatens to destroy the world.
Appraisal: Rather tame spoof of spy movies but also of several 90's blockbusters. Its jokes are unoriginal for the most part, but I didn't consider it totally unentertaining; furthermore, the leading actor is a fine comedian.
Rating: 33

Pompeii Uncovered (2007) (TV)

Very interesting documentary on the "NatGeo Presents" series. Despite the title, it's about both Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the Vesuvium itself.

Les aimants (2004)

English title: Love and Magnets.
Synopsis: The plot involves several adulteries, some mistaken identities, and messages left in the refrigerator door.
Appraisal: Romantic comedy of errors that despite the complications of its plot fails to achieve a greater empathy due to somewhat trite dialogue and situations. It is sufficiently lighthearted and agile to ensure its watchability, but it doesn't imprint anything lasting on one's brain.
Rating: 40

Winter Solstice (2004/I)

Synopsis: Jim is a widower living with his two teenage sons, Gabe and Pete. Jim has a gardening shop. Gabe works at a restaurant. Pete is in high school. Molly is the single middle-aged neighbor who has just moved in.
Appraisal: Very polished chronicle of a suburban family. Its pace is laid-back, there are no shocking or even unusual events, and its approach is not so different from many recent films dealing with similar subjects. A nice touch is how the subject of Pete's history class paralells the story of his family: why did the Mongolians stop their raiding midway and never invaded Europe? Pete knows the answer. Also, the paralell between tending a garden and keeping a family together.
Rating: 55

Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)

Synopsis: A family of ununionized lumberjacks gets pressure to stop their activities during a strike but refuse to, thus garnering the hostility of the town people.
Appraisal: An analysis of individualism, from a 1964 novel by Ken Kesey, and arguably a companion piece to Kesey's Someone Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, though I haven't read the novels, just seen the films. SAGN deals with extreme individualism, the kind that won't back off even at the prospect of starving an entire city. The film is not condescending in the least; it's hard to know where the film's sympathies lie. The film is not completely successful, perhaps; for example, the episode where Hank and his brothers save the drifiting saboteurs has a somewhat abrupt ending and seems to be there to add another layer to this family's character, implying that they are individualistic but wouldn't refuse a helping hand even to their enemies. Somehow it is implied that, in a traditional sense, they are morally superior to the unionized workers, who resort to dangerous sabotage to achieve their goals. (And now come some spoilers!) One thing that baffled me was that Joby's wife, the more adjusted woman in the house, leaves after Joby dies. This doesn't seem right. Also, Leland's allegiance to his brother in the final act is subject to some discussion. Maybe it was a reaction to the union's methods. Maybe he saw his own mother and Hank in a new light after a commentary made by Hank (he was 14, she was 30), and he wanted to make up for his previous unjust assessment of his half-brother. This is more a question-raising film than an answer-providing one.
Rating: 62

The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)

Synopsis: Some guys try to help their inexperienced middle-aged friend get laid. He meets a middle-aged woman and they start dating.
Appraisal: Fairly congenial comedy that nonetheless is way too long (I saw the unrated version) and has a lot of unfunny or redundant situations. Its final musical number is completely unnecessary, to give just one example.
Rating: 42

Shao Lin si (1976)

English titles: Death Chamber; Shaolin Temple.
Synopsis (spoilers!): Several young men sit for days outside the Shaolin Temple, expecting to be admitted as kung-fu students. In consideration of this, and also of the fact that the temple needs strengthening on account of being threatened by powerful enemies, among whom the emperor himself, the Temple's Grand Master decides to start taking outside pupils. The film shows their training. It ends with a massive attack of the temple and its subsequent destruction.
Appraisal: I didn't see much fun in watching hours of training; the fighting is concentrated near the ending, and, although well choreographed, is very long. So, I should say that this film didn't give me much in the way of entertaining, though it is competently directed within its budget constraints (warning: expect zooming).
Rating: 40

Lilja 4-ever (2002)

English title: Lilya 4-ever.
Synopsis: Lilja is a Russian teenage girl whose mother goes to America with her new boyfriend leaving her alone. She begins to prostitute herself out of sheer need to survive. One day she meets a handsome young boy who invites her to go to Sweden, where he says he has a job for her...
Appraisal: This is a heart-wrenching story, probably a bit exaggerated in some aspects, no doubt aiming at a higher impact. It addresses a major social illness of our times, women trafficking, and hopefully it will help to end it. Technically, the film is rather simple, shot mostly with a hand-held camera, in 16 mm. But it is a necessary movie, made with competence and emotion. This is the fourth film I see in the last two weeks that features one or more children with miserable lives who are transported to some kind of heaven.
Rating: 63

El hijo de la novia (2001)

English title: Son of the Bride.
Synopsis: A restaurant owner is stressed and overworked. He has a heart attack. His mother has Alzheimer's. His father wants to have a church wedding, after all these years.
Appraisal: The synopsis above is not stylistically exemplary, but I'm tired and writing synopses for bad movies like this one is not my cup of tea. I'll try to be short in my review. This is a ridiculous film, that thrives on fabricated emotion and some out-of-place humor. The actors and actresses are talented, but the situations they have to enact are often of an embarrassing kind.
Rating: 28

La femme de mon pote (1983)

English title: My Best Friend's Girl.
Synopsis: Two friends live at a ski resort. One is a womanizer, the other is chubby and shy. But the womanizer's new girlfriend seems to develop an interest in the chubby one.
Appraisal: Interesting but with an uneven flow, running a little low on steam around the middle. Also, a little theatrical. But the ending is very sweet.
Rating: 50

The Major Lied 'Til Dawn (1938)

This cartoon has excellent animation and many interesting gags. The humor is very lighthearted and harmless, with a lot of jokes based on analogies between urban or technological objects and natural or primitive ones (example: the elephant has a gear shifting handle). It's also interesting because it displays jokes that would be frowned upon today because of their ecological incorrectness (example: a bear is morphed into a coat); actually the whole subject of the cartoon would hardly be a viable choice in present days. As a final note, the copy I watched (shown on Cartoon Network) did not contain one the jokes mentioned in the IMDb Plot Summary section, namely the one in which a native uses his lower lip as a record player.
(I saw this film on November 18, 2006.)

The Three Little Pups (1953)

As perhaps has been observed elsewhere, Tex Avery not only concocts the most imaginative and wildest gags ever, he also creates characters that stay with the viewer forever. No one was as original. In a first attempt to summarize the essence of Avery's style, I will say that most of his visual gags are based on physical impossibilities of two kinds: (1) things that behave not like themselves but rather like what their appearance might allow -- example: the log that peels; (2) the rule of behavior of things is stretched beyond its range of validity -- example: the bullet hits the 'bull's eye', even if it has to deviate from a straight line. But Tex is much more than that: he was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.
(I saw this film on November 16, 2006.)

Porky's Railroad (1937)

What strikes me as shocking about 'Porky's Railroad' is its absolutely -- even brutally, I should say -- honest depiction of the soul of man under capitalism -- to paraphrase the title of that famous book by Oscar Wilde -- which I unfortunately have not read yet. The first shot establishes the state-of-the-art in trains -- one that would look modern even by today's standards. Then, the film switches to Porky's obsolete -- and barely functional -- model. It is interesting then how the film establishes Porky's character as sentimentally attached to his old train, but not anti-technology at all: for him, machines have precedence over animals. The race that ensues is the necessary conflict that precedes the shocking -- and of an unbridled cynicism -- ending that carries to the last consequences the truism that sentimentality has no place in a technological capitalist society -- Porky wins the race but is not allowed to keep his train; instead he is promoted to machinist of the new one, and is soon bursting with joy. Obsolescence happens to trains as well as to people -- the old machinist goes to the 'garbage can' just as Porky's old train.
(I saw this film on November 15, 2006.)

Dawn to Dawn (1933)

Alternate title: Black Dawn.
Set in a farm, this has a father and a daughter living by themselves. The father exploits and represses the daughter, who toils as a slave and never meets anyone. One day, a young man appears and they become mutually attracted. This simple story has an outdoors act, as they plow the field, in between two indoors acts, inside the hut. In the outdoors sequences, the director creates a sense of loneliness and despair, and then of love and hope; the indoors are used to create an atmosphere of oppression. All this is handled competently in this short film. The problems that I saw in this film are: the excessively caricatured characterization of the father; and not-so-good acting (by all three, I guess; the young woman is actually good at facial expressions but is not so good with her voice).
(I saw this film on December 18, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: Inverted Narratives.)

Little Geezer (1932)

The idea of children in adults' roles is apparently recurrent in movies. It had already been the basis for The Little Train Robbery (1905), and would later reappear in Bugsy Malone (1976), which has very similar situations as in this Little Geezer, except that in that film the machine guns spilled whipped cream and here apparently they contain real bullets; in The Little Train Robbery the merchandise they steal is candy, so there is a link with children's interests; in Little Geezer there is none. There must be a reason that lead people to come back to this joke but I can't be sure what it is, and I have never figured out what is so funny about it. But this film is moderately enjoyable, mostly because of the daring (for the time) editing (only sometimes it is so fast that it is hard to make out the individual scenes).
(I saw this film on December 18, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: Inverted Narratives.)

Lullaby (1929)

Alternating the realistic depiction of a Russian peasant home and expressionistic hallucinations, 'Lullaby' is a remarkable short film that deserves a lot more recognition than it has. It has an oppressive atmosphere that one rarely sees in films of any age or length. The performers look like real Russian peasants. The expressionistic bits are in the style of 'Caligari', with drawings as background. There are also three men with painted faces whose exact meaning and purpose I could not figure out. One can easily see that in this film the class struggle has poor against poor (peasants exploiting a house servant). The ending is a logical solution since the musician can also be considered as an exploited worker. Thus, no matter how poor these peasants are, they are the oppressor simply because they own the land. Marx was right.
(I saw this film on December 18, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: Inverted Narratives.)

The Telltale Heart (1928)

Influenced by 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' in its stylized set design, this Poe adaptation has a narrative-driven structure, without much experimentation in the line of, say, 'The Fall of the House of Usher' (the American film), released in the same year. That does not mean it doesn't offer creative solutions for the storytelling. But it is a more modest film. The main actor is made to look like Poe himself, a nice idea in my opinion as Poe's stories are probably deeply related with his own neuroses and fears. Also, the actor playing the old man conveys exactly the image intended by Poe's text, especially the pale eyes with a film on them. Overall, a worthy film, recommended for fans of silent cinema.
(I saw this film on December 02, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: The Devil's Plaything.)

Portrait of a Young Man in Three Movements (1931)

This is a non-narrative film comprised mostly of long takes of natural events such as the flow of the tide on a seashore, or the leaves of a tree, or the clouds in the sky. The only non-natural events displayed are the motions of a machine at work (I could not identify which sort of machine it was), and it probably was chosen because of the repetitive pattern of its movement, which kind of echoes that of the tide flow shown just before them. The shifting patterns of light and shade induce a sort of trance in the viewer -- an aesthetic experience that at its best can be ecstatic. The amazing thing about this film is that its concept is simple and its images are taken from common events, yet we never take the time to look at them in our everyday life.
(I saw this film on November 30, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: The Mechanized Eye.)

In Youth, Beside the Lonely Sea (1925)

This short (5 minutes) film consists of three screens standing side by side, forming a continual image, just as it were a single wide frame. Above and below every frame are two verses of the homonymous poem by American poet Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907); the verses are replaced by new ones as the film advances. The film (and poem) tell the story a man from his youth when he was full of dreams and hopes up to when he is old and despondent. He is haunted by visions of nymphs by the sea and in the woods (in his youth) and of fairies in his lonely room (in his old age). This is an acutely moving film, and the special effects are impressive. The fact that its maker is unknown only adds to its mystical aura.
(I saw this film on November 25, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: The Mechanized Eye.)

La cartomancienne (1932)

English title: The Fortune Teller.
A woman is looking for the perfect man. She ascends a flight of stairs and meets a fortune teller. The figure of a man wearing a bathing suit appears. The film is full of symbolism that uses alchemical motifs -- so we are told -- and can be understood as a work of pure visual art, working through beautiful association of geometrical patterns or fusions. The only thing that nearly spoils the film is the asymmetry between the nakedness of the masculine figure and the abundance of garment on the feminine one. Was it one-sided prudishness or what? I had never heard of this filmmaker and, looking at his filmography, I don't see any familiar titles. Judging by this film, he was a talented artist.
(I saw this film on November 24, 2006, as part of the DVD Unseen Cinema: The Mechanized Eye.)

Hellboy (2004)

Synopsis: The Nazis hire Rasputin to open a portal to another dimension and summon some gods who will destroy the world. The Allies arrive in time to prevent him from doing it, but during the time the portal was open a baby creature from hell enters our dimension. He is raised by a scientist to be a good man and sixty years later he and his friends go after Rasputin resuscitated.
Appraisal: Well, the plot synopsis says it all, I guess. This is possibly this director's most autobiographical film, though probably not his most personal - that honor should go to the ghastly El laberinto del fauno. Hellboy, I guess, is his alter ego, as a boy who came from 'the other side', just as he, the director, came from across the Rio Grande to become an international filmmaker. The message of the film is 'where you came from doesn't make you; your choices do'. He, the director, abides to that all the way - you don't see Mexico once in his filmography. I guess I should give some points to this film on account of all the second unit work, and cinematography, and also some of the performances (the main actor, most of all). Based on a comic book series which appeared for the first time in 1993.
Rating: 25

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

Synopsis: A virus that resuscitates the dead contaminates an entire city. The city is sealed and no one is allowed to enter or leave it. The film follows the attempts of a few people that are trapped in the city to get out.
Appraisal: This is essentially an action movie without much room for dialogue or character development. The action is depicted with fast editing, sometimes too fast but in an overall competent fashion. The plot is highly derivative, echoing films like Night of the Living Dead and its sequels, and also Robocop; it's also sleazily scripted, with some inexplicable occurrences here and there. Basically an unnecessary film, although it has some minor entertaining value.
Rating: 38

The Insider (1999)

Synopsis: A former head of Research and Development for a tobacco company reveals to the press that the company he worked for has been hiding their knowledge about some dangerous characteristics of the product they sell.
Appraisal: It has all the appearance of a rigorous dramatic telling of real events; rigorous not only in its fidelity to fact but in its depiction of the private dimension of the characters involved. To be honest, my taste for such productions is limited due to the fact that beneath their surface of technicalities, legal and otherwise, their development is very predictable; also, they don't give room to much interesting drama. But it is entertaining, and even instructive; it is also has virtuous editing and camerawork, and excellent performances.
Rating: 68

Julie Walking Home (2002)

Synopsis: A couple finds out that one of their children has cancer. His prospects are not good, since he is allergic to chemotherapy. The mother then decides to visit a healer in Europe who allegedly cures people by laying his hands on them.
Appraisal: Perhaps I will not be able to present a rational analysis of this film; up until it was almost over, I was not sure whether it was a great film or some inconsequential melodrama. I think that the closing events were really well thought out though, and did not let the film lose itself. Anyway, what I am perfectly sure of is that from the first scene to the last, it is intense and gripping. And it makes us think about the emotional pitfalls along our lives, without an inch of moralizing about it. For me, it was a rewarding experience. And a great part of its strength is in its flawless cast.
Rating: 74
Ranking: 12th position in 2002

Bring It On (2000)

Synopsis: Torrance has just been nominated captain of her team of cheerleaders. But everything starts going wrong, from an injured team member to a stolen choreography to a suspiciously untraceable boyfriend...
Appraisal: This is so aware of its own limitations that at one point it seems to be mocking itself, as one of the characters asks in disbelief: "Wait! People cheer cheerleaders?" Some of the dialogue is exquisitely clever, but it's never more than an accessory to a succession of moderately amusing trivialities.
Rating: 45

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Synopsis: Two teenage brothers must adapt to a new life when their parents separate.
Appraisal: It manages to turn a somewhat grim subject into an attention grabber, which is a sure sign of talent; however, its telegraphic style composed predominantly of short sequences allows only a superficial glimpse into these lives and that is not engrossing enough in this case. The approach may work in films like The Wild Child (referenced in one line) because it is sort of an anthropological study; here, all you have are its characters, and the deeper the filmmaker goes, the more resonating the experience of watching it will be. I guess (not having seen it, only read some of its dialog) The Mother and the Whore (referenced in another line) would have been a better model. The Squid and the Whale feels honest but at the same time distant. I think it works, though not as well as it could.
Rating: 67

Daisy Doodad's Dial (1914)

Synopsis: Husband and wife decide to enter grimacing competitions (I didn't know there were such things, even in 1914).
Appraisal: Rather undistinguished little comedy, though not entirely without worth.

The Helpful (?) Sisterhood (1914)

Synopsis: Mary is invited to join a sorority but she is not from the same social class as the rest of the sorority girls, and soon she finds out she cannot afford the expenses imposed by their social life.
Appraisal: A competently crafted moral tale. Its premise is interesting, though of course it is approached in a simplified way.

Borat (2006)

Synopsis: A reporter from a third world country travels to the U.S. to learn more about the American way.
Appraisal: I had a moderate amount of amusement from this film; to be honest, I was bored at certain parts too. The anti-semitism bits are not very funny; the rodeo sequence, which had potential, turned out to be a dud; the scene at the antique shop is just old fashioned slapstick; none of this is really annoying, but the overall result is just a curious, though uneven, experiment that owes much of its structure and dynamics to television.
Rating: 40

Pi li shi jie (1985)

English title: Disciples of the 36th Chamber.
Synopsis: Unruly student Fong Sai-Yuk is expelled from his school and sent to the 36th Chamber to learn kung-fu. He remains an undisciplined sudent there, sneaking out at night to see a festival. At the festival, he meets the governor, a Manchu, who coaxes Fong to bring the best kung-fu students to watch the festival. Fong accepts, not knowing that the governor has evil plans.
Appraisal: Entertaining but too focused on choreography, a characteristic some may like, but I find lacking. Comparing it to Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples has a little less humor and higher production values (less zooming is used, for example). The fights are equally arresting, and the acting is mostly good.
Rating: 50

The Speed Kings (1913)

Synopsis: A man takes his daughter to a car race. She is infatuated with one of the racers, but he prefers another one, so he tampers with the first one's car.
Appraisal: This is a pretty dull short comedy, whose main interest is to show some real race footage and famous racers of that time. I saw it on a bad copy, which made things even worse.

Fatty's Magic Pants (1914)

Synopsis: Fatty wants to take Mabel to a dance but doesn't have the required clothes. His rival invites her but Fatty steals his clothes.
Appraisal: This is my second viewing of this short comedy. I had seen it previously on a minuscule frame, but my appraisal then was identical to my present one.

Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915)

Synopsis: Fatty and his wife go to a park where 'no spooning is allowed'. He flirts with another man's wife while the other man flirts with his. Fatty and the other man's wife end up in jail.
Appraisal: Only moderately entertaining short comedy.

Fatty Joins the Force (1913)

Synopsis: Fatty saves the police commissioner's daughter from drowning and is offered a job as a policeman.
Appraisal: This is my second viewing of this short film. My previous evaluation of it was a bit harsh; actually this comedy is not devoid of entertaining value; maybe the fact that I had seen it from a copy that had to be played at a minuscule frame size influenced my opinion then.

At First Sight (1999)

Synopsis: Woman falls in love with blind man; she encourages him to have an operation to recover sight.
Appraisal: I was never bored through it, but even so I had the feeling that it was overlong; furthermore, it was a bit too heavy on the philosophizing stuff, especially near the ending. Based on a true story, reported in 1993 in this article.
Rating: 51

Children of Men (2006)

Synopsis: The year is 2027, and a plague of infertility has ravaged the planet for years. In England, the government is capturing and deporting all illegal immigrants, some of whom have organized themselves into an underground resistance group. This film concerns a man who is offered money to provide an immigrant woman with travel permit documents, and then to escort her to another location.
Appraisal: This is a typical genre picture, centered on action and with many instrumental secondary characters which are given some exotic or dramatic attribute and usually don't stay in the film for long. The infertility premise is scientifically improbable, and has to do more with a specific neurosis of the female gender than with anything else. Not very significant or brilliant in any sense except for the cinematography, camerawork and perhaps set and landscape designs. Shortly put, this is a B-film with A-production values which builds its narrative with some competence but is ultimately shallow. Based on a 1992 novel by P.D. James.
Rating: 46

Our New Errand Boy (1905)

This short film concerns a young boy and the various pranks he plays at people. It is funny and has some amazingly interesting outdoors landscapes, all in very sharp cinematography. A real time machine.

The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912)

Synopsis: A young boy works as a newspaper seller and lives with his alcoholic grandmother, who doesn't treat him kindly. One day he receives an invitation for a charity picnic and there one of the ladies tells the kids a fairy tale.
Appraisal: A remarkably well done if a little too unhealthily morbid tale of early last century's infant misery. It's the third film I see in less than a week that uses the metaphor in which an unfortunate child's death is depicted as his (her) removal to a magical or supernatural world. The other two are The Little Match Seller, like this one an outcry for better socioeconomical conditions for children, and El laberinto del fauno, which is simply a sadistic concoction with no redeeming social value.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Synopsis: A football coach has to put his team back on the winning track, after a series of defeats; the captain gets injured and is replaced by a talented but individualistic player.
Appraisal: Not too different from other films about football; exuberant in color and camerawork, and also in the vigor of the acting performances; it features entertaining violence, while displaying some watchable drama. Possibly a triumph of style over substance. I don't know much about the sport and its rules anyway, so I watched it more as a sensorial experience, and it was not bad as such.
Rating: 56

El laberinto del fauno (2006)

English title: Pan's Labyrinth.

Synopsis: After the end of the Civil War in Spain there are still some isolated guerrilla groups that resist the fascists. This is the story of a 12 year old girl whose widowed mother has remarried to a fascist captain and now expects his child. The girl and the mother move to the house where the captain is staying and from where he is leading the counter-resistance against the rebels in the hills. In that environment the girl will come into contact with supernatural beings.

Appraisal (spoilers herein): This film has some points of contact with my previous viewing, The Little Match Seller. Both envision a poetic martyrization of childhood, and have very similar elements in their endings. This is a notion of disputable healthfulness in itself, usually derived from the authors' own childhood of vicissitudes and often associated with a strongly Christian upbringing. However, in 'El laberinto del fauno', the undertones are much more decidedly disturbing. The suffering in the movie is not caused by natural or economic odds, as in Andersen's tale, but by (1) the actions of a human character that is made to behave like an evil machine; and (2) sets of rules dictated by supernatural characters only one character can see. In short, it's the writer/director himself that is arbitrarily making his characters - one of whom a child of 12 - suffer and die, not some historical context that has been abstracted and exaggerated to the level of a cartoon. Apparently, there is a radical feminist agenda in the film, and nearly all the important female characters are systematically victimized. Even the rebels are found guilty: at one point, the doctor, who takes a fancy towards the governess, asks her brother, a rebel, why he insists on fighting a lost war when it is so imposing upon his sister. So, both sides are ultimately 'the oppressor', and the real victims are the women. The captain's obsession with his unborn child's gender ('It will be a boy', he decrees) is another manifestation of the sexism that the film denounces. The film's 'real' and 'imaginary' parts don't match well; also, the twist by which the faun's despotism is made to be a 'test' on the child's character is preposterous; a child's suffering is not 'better' because it comes from a supernatural agent (although most Christian people would probably disagree). Quite shortly put, a big mess of a movie, that is simplistic in its ideology and unpleasant to watch except for the well-designed monsters and related creatures.

Rating: 23

The Little Match Seller (1902)

Synopsis: A little girl makes a living by selling matches on the street; on Christmas night, the snow is falling and no one will buy her matches; cold and hungry, she decides to light her matches to warm herself; as each match is lit, she mentally pictures images of happiness and comfort.
Appraisal: Remarkable for its time, and even more so for its depiction of dream as cinema. Based on a 1848 short story by Hans Christian Andersen.

La conquête du pôle (1912)

English title: Conquest of the Pole.
Synopsis: A scientist builds an airplane to transport him and his crew to the North Pole. Once there, he encounters a man-eating giant.
Appraisal: One of the last Méliès films; he was losing his audience fast by then. But, based on the 8 and a half minutes I saw, which are probably not the entire film, it is a good, entertaining film, with nice visuals and interesting concepts.

La lanterne magique (1903)

English title: The Magic Lantern.
Synopsis: Two men assemble a huge square-shaped device that works at first as a cinematographic projector; subsequently, they open it and several dancing girls come out of it; from then on, it will either produce people or make them disappear inside it.
Appraisal: One of the many 'trick' films made by Méliès around that time. It is moderately entertaining, and has some additional interest for showing a 'trick' film within it.

Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1903)

This is the first film in which the famous character by Arthur Conan Doyle appears. He doesn't do much detective work though; he surprises a burglar in his house, but the burglar keeps disappearing and reappearing; when 'Holmes' grabs the sac with the stolen goods, it disappears as well.

Blacksmith Scene (1893)

This is the first film made for commercial distribution. It's just a bunch of blacksmiths hammering on a piece of metal, then one of them takes a beer bottle, drinks some and passes it around.

Dickson Greeting (1891)

This is the first film shown in public exhibition. It's just what the title says, a guy performing some sort of greeting to the audience.

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888)

This is the second film ever made. It is an outdoors scene of a city, as the title indicates.

Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

This is the first film ever made. It is 2 seconds long, and shows four people walking in a yard, two men and two women.

"Unseen Cinema: Viva la Dance" [DVD]

This is the 7th and final volume, with the subtitle "The Beginnings of Ciné-Dance". Its contents are:
7 Annabelle Dances and Dances (1894-1897)—W.K.L. Dickson, William Heise & James White
Davy Jones' Locker (1900)—Frederick Armitage
Neptune’s Daughters (1900)—Frederick Armitage
A Nymph of the Waves (1900)—Frederick Armitage
Diana the Huntress (1916)—Charles Allen & Francis Trevelyan Miller (excerpt)
The Soul of the Cypress (1920)—Dudley Murphy
Looney Lens: Pas de deux (1924)—Al Brick
Hände: Das Leben und die Liebe eines Zärtlichen Geschlechts (Hands: The Life and Loves of the Gentler Sex) (1928)—Stella Simon & Miklos Bandy
Mechanical Principles (1930)—Ralph Steiner
Tilly Losch in Her Dance of the Hands (c. 1930-33)—Norman Bel Geddes
2 Eisenstein’s Mexican Footage (1931)—Sergei Eisenstein (excerpts)
Oramunde (1933)—Emlen Etting
Hands (1934)—Ralph Steiner & Willard Van Dyke
Joie de vivre (1934)—Anthony Gross & Hector Hoppin
Wonder Bar: "Don’t Say Goodnight" (1934)—Busby Berkeley (excerpt)
Dada (1936)—Mary Ellen Bute & Ted Nemeth
Escape (1938)—Mary Ellen Bute & Ted Nemeth
An Optical Poem (1938)—Oskar Fischinger
Abstract Experiment in Kodachrome (c. 1940s)—Slavko Vorkapich
NBC Valentine Greeting (1939-40)—Norman McLaren
Stars and Stripes (1940)—Norman McLaren
Tarantella (1940)—Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth & Norman McLaren
Spook Sport (1940)—Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth & Norman McLaren
Danse Macabre (1922)—Dudley Murphy
Peer Gynt (1941)—David Bradley, starring Charlton Heston (excerpt)
Introspection (1941/46)—Sara Kathryn Arledge

Lathe of Heaven (2002) (TV)

Synopsis: A man has the power to change the universe - including its history - with his dreams. His psychiatrist uses him to improve his own status.
Appraisal: The plotline of this movie is interesting, making a perfectly good point about psychiatrists and therapists, adding another angle of satire to that in What About Bob? . Its development, however, suffers somewhat from the pauperism and lack of imagination that are customary in TV movies. The performances are good though. Based on a 1971 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Rating: 40

Mua he chieu thang dung (2000)

English titles: Vertical Ray of the Sun; At the Height of Summer; The Summer Solstice.
Synopsis: Three sisters and a brother, as well as two of the sisters' husbands, are the subject of this film. Lien is single and lives with her brother, with whom she is infatuated; Suong's marriage has been stagnant for a long time and she has an affair; Khanh, who has just found out about her own pregnancy, is happily married. Hai lives with his sister and is a struggling actor. Quoc, Suong's husband, is a botanical photographer and has another family in another town. Kien, Khanh's husband, is a writer with a block.
Appraisal: Superficial account of six lives, that has the approximate feel of a Brazilian soap opera, except slower and with less dialog. The cinematography is gorgeous, though.
Rating: 39

Shao Lin ta peng hsiao tzu (1980)

English title: Return to the 36th Chamber.
Synopsis: The workers at a dye factory are exploited down to near slavery by their boss, who brings kung-fu fighting thugs from Manchuria to keep them obedient. The brother of one of the workers decides to get a training in kung fu in order to help them.
Appraisal: Possibly one of the better kung-fu pictures, yet for me this still doesn't mean a quite satisfactory experience, because I find this genre a bit limited. The plot is of a comic nature, very energetic and quite childish. There are memorable sequences alright, like the one in which Chao has to get water from a well without a bucket, and more. The scaffolding style of kung fu is ingenious and well choreographed, as are practically all the fighting sequences in the film. As usual, if you look beneath the surface, the film is quite anti-Marxist, since a minority initially oppresses a working community, being eventually defeated by an even smaller minority (of one). It is probably set in the 18th or 19th century (wild guess, seeing as the film doesn't offer clues to that and I am not a China expert anyway), which makes labor union notions unthinkable - not that it matters: the goal here is to offer entertaining action and not historical reflection. The camerawork is zoom-based throughout.
Rating: 50

The Octagon (1980)

Synopsis: An ex-martial arts fighter who had a Ninja training suspects a former training colleague of his of being involved in a series of murders, including that of a woman he recently dated. When his best friend decides to investigate the affair, he must go after him all the way to the training camp located in a remote country.
Appraisal: Above average martial arts adventure. While still rooted in the old machismo notions that pervade the genre, it has a reasonably coherent plot, and dialogue that sounds like coming from intelligent beings (perhaps due to having been written by a woman). The action and fight sequences are well done, and the whole film is quite watchable, albeit without really offering much substance.
Rating: 42

Red Heat (1988)

Synopsis: A Soviet drug dealer comes to the U.S. to close a deal and a Soviet cop whose partner was killed by the dealer travels to the U.S. in his pursuit. There, he teams with an American cop.
Appraisal: This film is lukewarm in all departments: plot, action, dialog, performances, you name it. Its subjacent theme are the differences in the Communist and Capitalist ways of life; it only touches the subject in the most superficial way. In the action department, it has an opening shootout in Moscow and a later chase in Chicago involving two big buses; none of that is really exciting, but it is professionally done. I've seen it dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 31

"Unseen Cinema: The Amateur as Auteur" [DVD]

This is the 6th volume in the 'Unseen Cinema' set; this volume's subtitle is 'Discovering Paradise in Pictures'. The contents of this volume are:
7 Case Sound Tests (c. 1924-25)—Theodore Case & Earl Sponable [including Gus Visser and His Singing Duck (1925)]
Windy Ledge Farm (c. 1929-34)—Elizabeth Woodman Wright
A Day in Santa Fe (1931)—Lynn Riggs & James Hughes
4 Stewart Family Home Movies (c. 1935-39)—Archie Stewart
Children’s Party (c. 1938)—Joseph Cornell
Cotillion (c. 1938)—Joseph Cornell
The Midnight Party (c. 1938)—Joseph Cornell
Haiti (1938)—Rudy Burckhardt
Tree Trunk to Head (1938)—Lewis Jacobs
Bicycle Polo at San Mateo (1940-42)—Frank Stauffacher
1126 Dewey Avenue, Apt. 207 (1939)—John C. Hecker

La vie est un long fleuve tranquille (1988)

English title: Life Is a Long Quiet River.
Synopsis (with spoilers): Two babies from different social classes are switched at birth. Twelve years later the fact is revealed to both families, and they agree, after a monetary settlement, to let both children live with the rich family. The boy who had been raised in a poor environment slowly corrupts his rich siblings by putting them in contact with his former family; he also tells the whole truth to the girl with whom he was switched, making her feel bad and stop communicating with her rich non-biological family; the mother eventually has a nervous breakdown.
Appraisal: An interesting study on the effect of the environment on people; it is very cruel and unsentimental. The screenplay has a few loose ends, like the crimes against Arabs which are only mentioned in the beginning, or the doctor and the nurse who get a lot of screen time in the beginning of the film and then vanish (except for a brief appearance, as you will see). The film, even with these extraneous bits, clocks in at just 1h30, which means that there isn't a lot happening in its main thread of events. Still, it's quite an enjoyable film; its satire is mostly of an obvious kind, but is effectively conveyed and works quite well on a scene-by-scene basis; an uniformly perfect cast is one of its assets.
Rating: 63

Bio-Dome (1996)

Synopsis: Two youngsters get locked inside a Bio-Dome (a sealed dome that replicates several different habitats from the Earth) where a group of scientists will stay during a whole year as part of an experiment.
Appraisal: A very poor screenplay sinks this comedy, that nevertheless might please very undemanding viewers. Its main actor is unfunny, but the guy playing his sidekick is the opposite of that.
Rating: 18