Mov-E

Wall-E
The best animation I've seen since the Triplets of Belleville, and my favorite love story since Harold and Maude. It's cute, it's funny, it's endearing... and much to my surprise, it also makes a very poignant statement on consumerism and conspicuous consumption. It's set in a future where humans have evacuated earth and robots have been left to clean up their mess -- but the mission fails and humans orbit the solar system indefinitely while one lone robot, WALL-E, continues about the task on his lonesome. But the monotony of his otherwise charming existence changes when he falls in love with another robot, sent back to earth in search of life. I dare you to watch this movie and not smile. FINAL GRADE: A

Summercamp!
I love documentaries like this. Like King of Kong, it sounds silly — a camera crew follows around a group of kids and counselors at a summer camp in Wisconsin — but emerges as an interesting sociological study that positions children at its epicenter. Here you see 12-year-old boys crying for their mother; girls lamenting (and rather truthfully) how immature all of the boys are; kids battling the traumas of their home life; and the token "fat kid" being made fun of by others... pushed to the point of himself becoming a bully. Forget Meat Balls. This is a true summer camp movie. FINAL GRADE: A-

Pieces of April
Why more people haven't seen this 2003 film is beyond me. I mean, I was interested once I read the plot, and somewhat disinterested after I realized it starred Katie Holmes. But, well... I was pleasantly surprised. It's a fairly smart Indie film about a young 20-something screwup (played by Holmes) who's been all but disowned by her mother (dying of cancer) and her younger sister. Her father and brother cling to hope as they drive to New York City for Thanksgiving dinner, which the wayward eldest is hosting (along with her new boyfriend) for the first time. A very real movie with believable characters, some of whom you'll actually care about. FINAL GRADE: B+

Rushmore
I originally watched this Wes Anderson film shortly after its '98 release. I hated it. After rediscovering Anderson a couple years later, I decided to rewatch Rushmore, thinking perhaps my mood had impacted my impression. And I suppose it did, in a way... I didn't despise it anywhere near as much this time around, and in fact almost liked it. It's about a 15-year-old boy who gets into a prestigious academy on a writing scholarship, despite being an otherwise awful student (with little to no family income). He's quirky, neuorotic, and even a bit psychotic — particularly when he falls in love with a 1st grade teacher. FINAL GRADE: B-

27 Dresses
Romantic comedies generally aren't my thing — unless there's a very dark twist. I was hoping this would be an exception, as initial glowing reviews led me to believe this was more so a comedy than it was a romance. I mean: a woman is a bridesmaid in 27 weddings and thinks nothing of it — until her crush of several years proposes to her younger sister. Funny in some parts such that I could definitely relate... but it also relied a bit too heavily on the standard love story formula. In other words: you can accurately call the ending about 20 minutes into the film. This predictability doesn't altogether ruin the experience of watching 27 Dresses (it's still fun), but it certainly caused the film to lose a few street-cred points. FINAL GRADE: B-

Charlie Bartlett
Not as good as I'd hoped when I first saw previews, but better than the bleak reviews offered by the majority of critics. This one is about a wealthy teenage boy who just wants to be popular — and who'll do anything to make that happen (even if that means getting kicked out of countless private institutions before his mother resorts to public school). An indie-comedy with a slightly dark twist, it doesn't live up to its potential... but nor does it fail entirely. FINAL GRADE: C+

Kentucky Fried Movie
When it comes to a collection of sketch comedy, I'll take Monty Python and the Flying Circus over Kentucky Fried Movie, any day. Certainly funny and clever in some parts, Kentucky Fried Movie also relies too heavily on the shock value of exposed female body parts. Perhaps I'd have enjoyed it more if I hadn't watched it alone (hearing other people laugh can sometimes make or break a movie)... or with some chemical assistance. FINAL GRADE: C

The Jerk (Movie Review)

Navin R. Johnson: Why are you crying? And why are you wearing that old dress?
Marie: Because I just heard a song on the radio that reminded me of the way we were.
Navin R. Johnson: What was it?
Marie: "The Way We Were."

---

Well now I understand why people always sounded so appalled when I confessed to never having seen this Steve Martin classic.

It's actually quite good, with Martin starring as the likable Navin Johnson, a "poor black boy" from the South who sets out to discover his roots (or his "special purpose," if you will) only to find himself in all variety of misadventures.

Navin is entirely naive, which seems to only add to his charm. The result is a breed of comedy that borders on terms generally viewed as opposites: it's screwball, in a way, and yet very much so "subtle."

I know that sounds contradictory, but The Jerk (1979) pulls it off (oy!) amazingly well. This is definitely a "must see" for anyone who appreciates smart comedy that maintains a reasonable degree of silliness.

FINAL GRADE: A-

The Rules of the Game (Movie Review)

Touted by many as being one of the greatest films ever made, it took me a month to develop enough interest (i.e. boredom with everything else) to finally open the Netflix envelope containing The Rules of the Game (1939/59), and another four weeks to finish watching it.

That is to say, I had a difficult time getting interested in the story, though once I got past all of the discomfort created by the lies and infidelity portrayed in the film — and instead accepted the satirical lens through which director Jean Renoir approached his material — I was hooked. I went from despising the movie to understanding precisely why it was made. Or better yet: why it's so highly regarded among film critics.

Originally shot in the late 1930s, the film was deemed immoral and its negatives were destroyed by the Nazi army. In 1939 Renoir re-edited the film so as to be approved by censors, and it wasn't until 1959 that he released the version most commonly viewed today (in fact, the original, pre-invasion version has long since been lost).

Renoir himself co-stars in this film, which underscores the daily goings-on of French aristocracy and servants alike. The common thread between them is a complete inability to remain true to one's betrothed, with all variety of spouses (rich and poor, male and female) attempting to have their cake and eat it too (excuse the cliche).

Things heat up at a particular dinner party, when the spouses and mistresses all find themselves around a common table, engaging in polite conversation with the very people that they know are attempting to steal away their spouse. But what do they care, when they themselves have secured a little side action?

The end result: a rather tangled web that aptly demonstrates the complexities of the social strata, as well as the common troubles that defy class and gender.

And as is so often true in life, the few "genuine" people among this crowd are the ones most likely to be trampled by the amoral masses.

One complaint about the DVD: this film is in French, and since it is black and white with white subtitles, I had a heckuva time following along. Never mind the four years of French I took...


FINAL GRADE: A-

Once (Movie Review)

Speaking as a girl who generally despises musicals, Once (2007) symbolizes — for me — everything a musical should be.

Rather than the typical scenario whereby actors suddenly — and unrealistically — burst out into song, Once is far more subtle. It chronicles the interactions of an Irish street musician in Dublin and a Czech ex-patriot peddling roses in the same vicinity.

Though never given names, this "Guy" and "Girl" set about to intermingle their musical proclivity, with his talent on the guitar — and her soft tickling of the ivories — resulting in some rather beautiful, touching melodies.

[Yes, I (legally) downloaded the entire album after my first viewing.]

Thus, the "musical" aspect of this movie is very... fluid. Natural, never forced. But of course a charming Irish boy and an attractive Czech girl can't make beautiful music together without, eh, making beautiful music together.

But for each their love of music — as well as their clear attraction to the other — is punctuated by emotional baggage (who can't relate to that?) and so a fair amount of tension. The end result: possibly the best "musical" I've ever seen, and not at all bad if you instead count it as a "romance" (another genre I generally despise).

It's cute. Funny. Sad. Touching. Well-written. And, at only 80 minutes of run-time, it knows precisely when to quit.

I'll be adding this one to my permanent collection.

FINAL GRADE: A-/A

CAUTION: Comments section contains spoilers. It's OK to click and comment, but don't read previously posted comments if you haven't yet seen the film (and have any intention of doing so).

Best Boy (Movie Review)

He'd been in the hospital for days, recovering from surgery.

When he returned home to his wife of 60 years and his adult (but mentally challenged) son, he hunched over in his favorite chair, his light scowl -- a nearly constant feature -- fading in an instant.

"I missed you," he said to his wife with unmistakable surprise.

"Well, I'm glad you missed me," she said, mixing her tears with a smile. "I missed you too."

She leaned over and kissed his wrinkled cheek, moving up to the bald spot of his head, kissing him again.

But you don't understand, his eyes seemed to say.

"I dreamed about you every night," he said. "I dreamed I was home with you."

---

Best Boy (1979) may be presented as a documentary about a mentally challenged man learning to become more self-sufficient, but in actuality it's a lot more than that.

It's about a family: the mother, the father, the sister and the brother who passed away long before the director (Ira Wohl, also the man's cousin) let his cameras start to roll. It's about how time has impacted all of the above, the sacrifices the parents made to keep their son at home in an era when most mentally challenged children were shoved into asylums, never to be seen or heard from again.

It's about how the parents who are ashamed to admit mild resentment for all the time they lost by caring for their son, are conversely so enamored with their sweet-but-slow "best boy" that they struggle to ever spend time away from him. And yet: they care about him enough that they try to let him go all the same.

This film could've exploited Philly, and people like him. It could've focused only on him, the camera never lingering on his mother's gray hair, or her stiff walk down the stairs. Or his father's eyes turning down when Philly belts out "As Time Goes By."

But Wohl seems to have appreciated these moments in a way that so many others might've over looked (or dwelled upon — ultimately just as harmful as the reverse). The end result is a beautiful, touching documentary whose biggest shortcoming is the director's own attire (traditional swinger 70s garb, and the mustache to go with it).

It was also a bit too long, but I'm pretty forgiving when the material is compelling.



FINAL GRADE: A-

Seven Reviews for Seven Movies

So I'm way behind in movie reviews. So far behind, in fact, that there's no hope of catching up if I don't summarize my opinions of each in one paragraph or less.

And now, without further ado, in order of preference...

No Country for Old Men (2007)
As a fan of Coen Brothers films, I'm well-accustomed to their dark sense of humor. Even still, I couldn't for the life of me imagine what they'd do with the very serious, very dramatic book by Cormac McCarthy. And while there is a (very subdued) sense of humor to this film, it's delivered in traditional Coen Brothers style without sacrificing the nature of the book. The end result: a decent storyline with a little too much gore and some inconsistencies that didn't quite add up... and yet, it's an altogether compelling film that captures the goings-on of the creepiest villain since Hannibal Lectar. FINAL GRADE: A-

Juno (2007)
This movie is funny and touching — even if the lead character's precocious demeanor isn't entirely believable. Ellen Page stars as Juno MacGuff, a two-smart-by-half high school junior impregnated by her best friend — a boy who's smitten with her, even if she refuses to acknowledge the same. Unable to follow through with an abortion, Juno scours the classifieds for couples looking to adopt. An altogether lovely story that'll make you laugh — and think twice about love, family and relationships. Think of it as this year's Little Miss Sunshine... with a soundtrack you'll want to download the moment you get home. FINAL GRADE: A-

Kite Runner (2007)
I saw this one by chance when my preferred film (The Savages) was sold out. What a pleasant surprise — light-hearted in some scenes and all-out traumatizing in others, this film chronicles the life of a Afghani boy whose father brought him to America after the Soviet invasion. Said boy grows up to become a writer still grappling with his past — a battle that culminates in a return to his home-country just weeks before September 11. FINAL GRADE: A-

I Am Legend (2007)
I enjoyed about the first 2/3 of this movie. It was, up until a point, well-written and fairly compelling. But then the storyline completely falls apart in an attempt to tack a "happy" ending onto an unhappy film about humans infected with a rabies-like virus that virtually kills and/or infects everyone on the planet. Deus ex machina is put to despicable use here, and I walked away thinking a decent film had been ruined by its final 25 minutes. However you look at it, though, Will Smith's performance is pretty dern impressive. FINAL GRADE: C+

Strings (2004)
This is a fairly serious war-time drama wherein the people are entirely played by puppets, in which case I had a difficult taking it seriously because — I'm sorry to say — comedic scenes from Team America (a far more sarcastic/humorous "puppet" movie from the creators of South Park) kept popping into my head. Still, the film itself was interesting and rife with metaphor — though sometimes a bit overdone. FINAL GRADE: C+

This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006)
Critics loved this documentary. I didn't. I mean, director Kirby Dick makes a compelling point insofar as the MPAA — which decides which films get which ratings — is clearly unjustly influenced by big name production companies. But beyond that, he didn't really make me care about the issue at hand. FINAL GRADE: C-

Hairspray (2007)
I seldom fall asleep while watching movies, but I certainly did in this one. To be fair, I've never been fond of musicals, but with all the hoopla surrounding this one, I'd hoped it be an exception. It wasn't. FINAL GRADE: D

The Devil and Daniel Johnston (Movie Review)

In the past seven days, I've become extraordinarily obsessed with the music and artwork of one Daniel Johnston.

Some of you may recall one of his more famous sketches from a t-shirt Kurt Cobain repeatedly wore on stage and to signings. Some of you may have even heard an artist like Beck or Wilco or Flaming Lips cover one of his more folksy tunes. Or maybe you recognize him from a VW commercial.

And some of you, like me, may be ashamed to realize just what you've missed out on these past several years.

For me, my obsession with Johnston worked like this:

• Washington goes to Austin last weekend for work.
• Washington happens to be there during Austin City Limits, for which I was terribly envious.
• Washington returns with a cute little t-shirt (a gift for yours truly) sporting an alien looking frog and the words, "Hi, how are you?"

Within a day, I was researching the artist and queuing up a documentary made about his life: The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005), which I watched this past weekend.

There's not much else for me to say, except that I've already legally downloaded a couple songs, and expect to purchase an album or two in the next week (as much for the artwork as the songs themselves).

But first, a bit about the film.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston offers a disheartening glimpse into the life of a manic depressive whose state was exacerbated by drug use in the mid to late 80s.

That is to say, he was already prone to unhealthy highs and lows — in regards to his emotional and psychological state — but met a veritable point of not return after a bad trip made it nearly impossible for friends and family alike to "deal" with him.

The end result: the man who took South by Southwest by storm on more than one occasion — the man who inspired the likes of Kurt Cobain and counted people like "Sonic Youth" among his closest friends — spent several long stints of his life in asylums, never wholly able to pursue a career as a musician or an artist.

An ex-girlfriend interviewed in the film espoused her fear that Daniel was a bit too much like that proverbial flower in the desert — the rare one that blooms rather beautifully, and then disappears wholly unknown to man.

I think she's on to something there, as Johnston has a bit of a cult following by musical crowds (particularly in Austin), but otherwise isn't a name that's ever made it into the mainstream, even though he first entered the public sphere more than 20 years ago.

In any event, his story is a sad one and even when he sings out of key, his lyrics — which have a sort of Indie Folk quality — are beautiful.

I was sorry to watch his unfortunate descent, though I think this film likewise demonstrates why so many past artists, a la Van Gogh, weren't fully appreciated until after their death: they're oftentimes so much so a danger to themselves that they can't forge a career out of their talent: rather, their talent is a creature of the very thing that marks their undoing.

But Johnston is still very much so alive, and only in his mid-40s. His life's aspiration was to be famous, and — for whatever it's worth — he's found at least one new fan in the Midwest.

FINAL GRADE: A-

Pan's Labyrinth (Movie Review)

Everything you've heard about this film is true.

It's haunting. It's violent. It's a fairytale for grownups.

And it is possibly one of the best films you'll ever see that posits a war in the backdrop.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) takes place during the immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War — which happened to also overlap with WW II. It chronicles the nightmarish fantasy world of a young girl, Ofelia, (amazingly well-played by Ivana Baquero) whose mother has remarried a captain in Francisco Franco's fascist army. The captain has located Ofelia and her now-pregnant mother to a mill in the Spanish countryside, where he and his men are attempting to sniff out those few remaining guerrilla "Republicans" (believe it or not, the "good" guys of this conflict).

Tragedy surrounds Ofelia on all sides, causing her to retreat to an underworld in which she is the lost princess. The resulting visual effects are haunting, reminding me oftentimes of one of Spain's most noted 20th century artists (and a personal favorite of mine) — Salvador Dali.

Beautiful. Sad. And oftentimes a bit too bloody for my tastes. There were even some scenes that required more suspension of disbelief that I like to allot for a film (and I'm not talking about the fairy tale portion — rather, stretches that occur in scenes taking place in the "real" world). Otherwise, it's no wonder Pan's Labyrinth was so highly praised this past awards season.

See it. If you haven't already.

FINAL GRADE: A