Films Viewed (October 2009)

The Informant!
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Big Fan
Leave Her to Heaven
Whip It
Dodes'ka-den
Touch of Evil
Where the Wild Things Are
Gate of Flesh
A Serious Man
Capitalism: A Love Story
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Vertigo

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Landmark Harbor East
Other (Video Americain, suburban muliplex)
Total: 13 films (10 in theaters)

Notes: Well, I am prety much keeping up with my average, and ten films in theaters is a rarer event these days, but it's the time of the season for movies.

My absolute knocked-it-out-the-park favorite was The Baader Meinhof Complex. Finally, a big-budget action bloodbath suited to my sensibilities, Can blaring in background! As a political organ or as an accurate account it could be lacking, but as an adrenalized rush the film was most effective. After months of reading about Godard's sterile exercises in dialectical filmmaking, my inner-teenage radical dude was most pleased.

My underdog why-didn't-anybody-see this-movie favorite was Whip It, which was frothy fun but still worth watching. I don't know how true-to-rollergirl it is, but I had a good time. I would consider renting it when released to disc.

My dear-God-we're-all-screwed pick would be A Serious Man. One exiting filmgoer remarked that the film was "too dark" and was "like having surgery for two hours." I found the film's bleak sensibility and nervous-hand-wringing right up my alley.

The "grab bag" revivals at the Charles have continued, all over the map. The prints have been stellar. It was interesting to realize that most of my vivid childhood memories of the Universal monster movies came not from the originals but from a gentle spoof of them. I guess that was all I was allowed to watch as a kid.

Speaking of which, I plan to finally launch into the story of how I got into this mess in the first place later this month. Stay tuned...