Films Viewed (July 2011)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon was an awful film.

Frownland was a paranoid, claustrophobic low budget nightmare of the highest order. It truly achieved something very sweaty, creepy, and mean. A loser continues losing both his mind and his ability to survive as he stumbles further and further down the rungs of New York City.

I became interested in Videocracy due to the recent Rupert Murdock mess. What has happened in Italy is truly frightening, a country ruled by a television/media cult of personality. The film itself was flawed and got going slowly, but improved over the course of its run-time.

Page One: Inside the New York Times, although not revelatory, was a diverting hour and half probing the seeming end times of the newspaper business. I particularly enjoyed/despaired over the coverage of the looting of the Tribune Company by Sam Zell and his cronies, which was the last nail in the coffin of my subscription to the Baltimore Sun.

Uncles Boonmee who can Recall his Past Lives popped up suddenly on Netflix Intstant, being available for streaming before it was released on DVD. Another intriguing meander through the filmed worlds of Apichatpong Weerasethakul. This was a film I was conflicted out of seeing at this year's Maryland Film Festival.

Captain America: The First Avenger won me over for being made "correctly" to someone whose sensibilities were formed as a child in the 1980s. Managed to covey a simple story well. Like with Pokemon, you gotta see'em all when it comes to the Marvel movies.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two was the end of a saga I began following with mild interest with the release of the first film. I'm such a dilettante that I skipped one of the films and only made it to the first Quidditch match in the first book. Others were clearly much more invested in the phenomenon. I just like watchin' a a good wizard movie, I guess.

Terri had a brief a six-day run at the Charles. A film that captured the sad awkward misery of middle school/ early high school perfectly. A young misfit passively rebels as his living situation deteriorates. Notable performance by John C. Reilly as a well-intentioned lunkhead of an assistant principal.

Rabbit Hole was a dark journey of grief and loss made somehow "safe for filmic consumption. All about moments of emotional acting. A couple approaches middle age and ponders the tragic accidental death of their young son. The Netflix envelope sat there by the television for a long while before my girlfriend and I were ready to plunge in.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 9 features (5 in theaters)