new online address for CCC

PLEASE NOTE:

Charm City Cineaste has moved.

http://charmcitycineaste.wordpress.com/

It will be a messy move, but the July 2012 Films Viewed should be up before the end of the day today (Tuesday, August 7th, 2012).

I am going to have to say goodbye to the color coding (not supported on Wordpress from what I can see). Where I saw the film will now be listed in parentheses following the capsule review.

Thanks for reading. I hope I have been helpful so far, and I hope to continue to be helpful in the future.

Films Viewed (June 2012)

PLEASE NOTE: BLOGGER IS A HORRIBLE PIECE OF GARBAGE OF A BLOG PLATFORM. I COULD NOT FIX THE POSTS IT MESSED UP, SO I MADE IT SO THAT YOU COULD READ THEM UNDERNEATH THE POST WHERE YOU CAN'T BUT WHERE THE LINKS WORK. HOPEFULLY, NEW FORMAT (OR NEW HOME FOR THIS BLOG) COMING SOON.


Possession (1981) retains its power, rising from word-of-mouth film underground praise to full on uncut re-issue. A man and wife break up. She has met someone else that can give her something he cannot. Flat-out amazing histrionic fever-dream cinema.

I missed On The Bowery when it bowed as a revival, so I rented it. Bums of varying character and type struggle to survive in this hybrid feature/doc. Short and far from sweet.

I was part of only maybe the fourth audience to see Beasts of the Southern Wild at a special sneak preview via WYPR/MFF. A girl comes of age in a place on the brink of destruction. Wild, heartfelt, and free. Opens this weekend at the Charles. Check it out.

Haywire was about this woman who was really good at kicking ass and killing people and what happens when she has to "go rogue". Directed by Steven Soderbergh. A simple pleasure, but a well-constructed one.

Prometheus 3D was "eh," never rising above being a sci-fi/action thrill-ride. Dealt with "big questions" in ways that were at best quasi-profound. Many others were more sorely disappointed by this movie. But, you know, the air conditioning worked and the popcorn was fresh.

The Circus continued the Charles theater's Chaplin revivals. A great opportunity to continue my film education.


I really liked Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, despite how French and whimsically arty it was. I bought the concept and approach, didn't mind the puppets, got to hear some great music. Sometimes things were being alluded to that I did not understand, but the dude lived an insane life.


I really liked Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, despite how French and whimsically arty it was. I bought the concept and approach, didn't mind the puppets, got to hear some great music. Sometimes things were being alluded to that I did not understand, but the dude lived an insane life.


It was good to finally have the time to sit down and view Jimmy Joe Roche's "Black Midnight Death Trip" and "Daydreams." Experimental video made with a device I helped him create and assemble via Kickstarter. A good weird half of an hour.


It was good to finally have the time to sit down and view Jimmy Joe Roche's "Black Midnight Death Trip" and "Daydreams." Experimental video made with a device I helped him create and assemble via Kickstarter. A good weird half of an hour.


Moonrise Kingdom is a Wes Anderson movie, and it is about the things this his movies are about. I bought into the world he has created this time around quickly and enjoyed it, although opinion among my friends is divided.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp sort-of left me cold, like other "masterpieces" I could name. Maybe I am not British enough to appreciate it? The more I read post-screening, the more I seemed to remember enjoying it.

Public Enemies, on the list for some time, helped a summer afternoon pass by. Seems like the predecessor of most of the aesthetic and approach of the series  Boardwalk Empire, another slow-burning piece of filmic work I enjoy.

There is a new film group in Baltimore called Sight Unseen. They presented a series of short experimental films from the Enoch Pratt's film print collection at the Wind-Up Space entitled "Sights and Sounds". This was fun and good and I look forward to more events like this one.

I wound up seeing the revival of The Royal Tenenbaums twice the week in showed. I also watched it once at home on DVD with the commentary track on. It was just that kind of week.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was a movie where Abraham Lincoln kills vampires.

Safety Not Guaranteed won me over, taking its oddball premise and fleshing it out enough to be enjoyable. The solid ensemble performances helped, also.

Sometimes I get nostalgic for the East Baltimore of my ancestors and I put on Hairspray (1988) with the commentary track.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
MICA Brown Center/ Wind-Up Space/  Suburban Multiplex
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all titles are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 14 features, several short films (9 features, one short film program in theaters/ screenings) rooms) 

Films Viewed (May 2012)

Wanda was an excellent way to kick off my 2012 Maryland Film Festival weekend. A woman drifts, disempowered, through her life. As John Waters, screening host and film selector, put it, "a feminist film about a dumb woman." Great rare opportunity to see it on the big screen.

I must recuse myself from reviewing the collection of Genre Shorts that played the festival as I hosted the screening.

I must recuse myself from reviewing Francine as I helped host the screening.

I have yet to be disappointed by a performance and screening by the Alloy Orchestra. This one, for the silent film From Morning 'till Midnight, was especially good. The films servea as an odd artifiact, German Expressionism taken to such extremes it played like Kubuki theater. A man who works in a bank steals money from it to unleash his wild repressed passions and manages to destroy his entire life in one day.

In The Turin Horse, a man and his daughter endure against nature. They begin to lose the fight, as we all do. A wonderful introduction to the films of Bela Tarr via his final film. Long takes, nothing happens, hypnotically paced... why aren't these "viewing preferences" on Netflix?

Attenberg was just great. A woman navigates the confusions of sex and romance with the help of a more worldly friend and nature documentaries as her father battles a terminal illness. More proof that something is going on in Greece besides a dept crisis.

I still can't decide about Damsels in Distress. Sure, it was another Whit Stillman film, and I enjoyed the other three very much. But something was wrong here, something that films like Kicking and Screaming manage to capture about college life that this one misses. It is never a problem to watch Greta Gerwig do anything for a feature's runtime, so I guess I am for this film. I can see why others might not be.

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie was the apex of a sudden interest in this comedy team that I have onlty grazed the work of historically. Tim and Eric try to turn a post-apocalyptic wasteland of a mall around to raise money they owe that the blew on making a terrible billion dollar movie. Meta meta meta. Cameo cameo cameo.

It is thanks to the industriousness and dedication of a MICA student that I got to see The Long Absence, subtitled by said student as a culminating project of his studies. A woman, missing her husband, suspects that an amnesiac drifter may in fact be him. Prime 1960s French cinema, lost to us English-speakers due to no subtitles. Until now.

The Avengers was great fun, made more excellent by being in the hands of a knowedgeable director. Superheros assemble to fight a planetary menace.. Enjoyable to those like myself who have seen all the films leading up to this one, but also accessable to people who are not as familiar. This is what a summer popcorm movie should be like.

Girl 6 had been sitting on the list for a very long time. An aspiring actress becomes a phone sex operator and begins to lost herself to her "new role." A notorious Spike Lee bomb championed by a friend in college. An interesting oddity, but we are a long way away from 1996.

Rhyme and Reason is a documentary about hip hop culture made when the culture was in serious transition (mid-1990s). Wu-tang is rising, Puff Daddy is about to become a Platinum selling artist. Glad to see it floating around on Netflix Instant on a headcold-plagued weekend.

The Dictator was not a funny as Borat, not a terrible as Bruno. I wasn't offended, but I rarely am.

I went to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with my father, and I was easily the youngest person on the theater. A group of British boomers, portrayed by A-list British actors retire to India and act up a storm. Fine for what it was.

Key
2012 Maryland Film Festival
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
MICA Brown 320/  Suburban Multiplex
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all titles are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 13 features, 8 short films (18 in theaters/ screening rooms)


 

Films Viewed (April 2012)

For the Love of Movies was a movie about movies, so it had that to overcome. Still, it was an interesting look at the history of the film critic, a now endangered species, and a plea for their importance and continuing relevance. I am a writer of criticism, so I could take heart, but the writing is on the wall as we enter the New Dark Ages.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home was sweet and simple, coaxing good performances from talented players. A man who cannot seem to make it out of his mother's basement leaves the house. Pat ending, but otherwise interesting work, a new way to get into the old plot mechanics.

Every so often, I re-watch The Big Lebowski. I continue to enjoy it.

Bad Boys II is an arch, insane film made at the height of America's W-era shrillness. So many bizarre choices are made, so many performances phoned in... the film is a series of sensations and set pieces that almost feel like scenes from different films. An Action Comedy from Michael Bay. Many thanks to the Gunky's Basement boys for searing this one onto my retinas.

We Need to Talk about Kevin was an exploration of the terror of the late 1990s, the realization that the success America had achieved was soon to fade and that the kids weren't all right. A mother lives in the aftermath of a senseless slaughter perpetrated by her psychopathic son. Could have been the worst sort of melodrama, instead comes alive coldly and precisely under the direction of Lynne Ramsay.

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is a continuation of my exploration of the films of Frank Tashlin. Another cartoon come to life. Simple post-modern self-reflexive fun. In guessing this is what Godard went to see when he needed to laugh.

The Raid: Redemption blew off the suburban multiplex screen, kicking and punching. A police squad raid a high-rise full of criminals. You have seen this before, but not as well done or as enjoyably executed.

The Muppets was okay.

The Myth of the American Sleepover was a knock-out debut, especially if you came of age in the time before smartphones. Young people navigate the last weekend of the summer and the ending (or beginning) of their adolescence. All first-time actors. I found Claire Sloma's performance especially luminous.

It was such a nice time to get together with some friends and watch The Usual Suspects. The film holds up, unlike others from the era.

Gerhard Richter Painting was a chance taken that paid off handsomely. I was unfamiliar with the artist before the film, but found it a serene mediation on the artistic process. Thanks to the Charles for showing it.


Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
MICA Brown Center/ Johns Hopkins Shriver Auditorium/  Suburban Multiplex/ Video Americain
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all titles are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 11 features (6 in theaters)

Films Viewed (March 2012)

A Separation lived up to the hype, an engaging and dramatic Iranian film about a couple's disintegration under Sharia Law. You think you might not want to see this, but, trust me, you do. This was a well earned Academy Award.

Songs for Cassavetes was part of my last rentals at the Charles Village Video Americain (two stores in the chain remain open). A film about the turn-of-the-century American music and arts underground focusing on the legends and emerging stars of the scene. The kind of film I didn't need to see when I was living it, but one I definitely appreciate now as a statement of the principles I still continue to live by.

Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King has been on "the list" for forever. It is an interesting trope of the lionizing/canonizing "rock docs" that they always choose a certain work that is the greatest by the group. I am now very curious to hear "Charmed Life", but I suspect it will leave me feeling like I usually feel about Half Japanese.

"You're Not Fooling Anybody" and "You're Still Not Fooling Anybody" were paired on the same VHS tape. Very controversial work in the Tarantino era. Now, I feel like it is akin to beat-diggers pointing out other DJs sample sources. Not that exciting. Still, a masterful editing job that points out (convincingly) that Tarantino "sampled" a plot-line from another film for the heist from Reservoir Dogs.

"A Day's Pleasure" and "The Kid" were a double feature at The Charles, which continues its Chaplin retrospective. I will have to miss this month's installment, but I highly recommend you check it out. "The Kid" was especially enjoyable, if I bit creaky and melodramatic at times. To be fair, when you are birthing an art-form, you're gonna do some things that will later become cliche.

Coriolanus was a tough-minded Shakespeare adaptation, very in tune with the issues of today. Set in a dystopian future world but still done "full Elizabethan" in terms of dialogue, the story charts the rise and fall of a warrior who would be king. Well, he would be king if he didn't like killing and fighting so much. Great performances highlight this rarely-adapted or performed work.

Doggie Woggiez! Poochie Woochiez! was the Everything is Terrible collective's most recent collection of lovingly compiled video garbage. This time around, the focus is on dogs, and the ostensible "frame" is a re-make of Jodorowksy's Holy Mountain. A mind-melting 90 minutes, presented at the Whole Gallery.

Wanderlust had me in hysterics in the (otherwise empty) Landmark Harbor East theater in which I viewed it. Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston's characters stumble into a commune after their Manhattan life crumbles in the new economy. David Wain directs a stellar supporitng cast. Perhaps made more resonant to me by how often I have rubbed elbows with the "other" American music and arts underground (the one with the jam bands and the drum circles).

It is safe to say that The Hunger Games was a good night at the movies, even for a neophyte to the series like myself. Jennifer Lawrence was note perfect, the dystopian world fully realized. I look forward to more of the films, but I fully admit I will probably never get around to reading the books.

I will never not enjoy watching Sunrise, an early silent film that never fails to personally satisfy and gratify me. A "symphony of the country and city" in which a man is tempted to leave his wife and then reconsiders. A beatifically shot, wonderful window into a lost world and culture.

Everyting is Terrible: The Movie and 2 Everything 2 Terrible 2: Tokyo Drift were similar experiences to the above works of the EiT Collective. Just an amazing mind-melt. The first focused on those dusty "educational" videos in the free rental section of the video store of yore and the ones you would find from the 1980s at the 1990s flea market. The second expanded on the theme, gained form, ate my brain.

Project Nim examines what happens when you raise a chimp as a human. Can it acquire language the way a human baby would? This documentary raised many good questions not only about language acquisition but also about the (flawed) humans conducting the experiment and their intentions.

I am glad to have seen Khodorkovsky, despite its plodding, pedantic tendencies. An engaging and illuminating film that serves as a window into the end of the USSR (and the rise of Putin).

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Video Americain / Whole Gallery
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all titles are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 12 features, 4 short films (9 in theaters/venues)

Films Viewed (February 2012)

Drive became the talk of the town this fall. I missed it, and eagerly anticipated its release on DVD. I was not disappointed. A man who drives people away from criminal enterprise navigates his increasingly complicated life. Noirish and 1980s, over the top yet low key, and buoyed by some amazing performances. Everything I enjoyed about Tarantino in the 1990s brought flawlessly into the 2010s.

Red Tails took a while to get going, but was a solid entertainment. The Tuskegee Airmen fight racism, inner demons, and Nazis in this WWII epic. The right notes were hit, the action kept front and center while the story developed efficiently around the set-pieces.

I have been interested in director Frank Tashlin for a bit, and have finally gotten to see one of his films. The Girl Can't Help It is a cartoony piece of pop culture fluff, notable for the A-list 1950s rock and roll captured on the soundtrack and in performance. It looks like more of his films are hitting DVD these days, and I hope to check out more.

A monthly Chaplin series has begun at the Charles, this time around featuring the shorts "A Dog's Life," "Shoulder Arms", and "Sunnyside." To me, you can't go wrong watching film's greatest artist blaze trails and elciit belly laughs shortly after the birth of the medium. I am looking forward to taking in this series over the course of the year.

The next week's revival was the complete opposite, a grim slog through The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaususcu, the narrative created solely from propaganda and state films from throughout his time as the leader of the Romanian people. As the descendent of Eastern Bloc Poles, I find such film-going difficult but valuable.

Pina 3D is a tribute to an artist taken suddenly and too soon. Wim Wenders coordinates a tribute to her brand of groundbreaking and transgressive dance and artistry with the help of her surviving troupe. A tribute to the power of collective artistic action and a guided tour of the work of an underappreciated artist. Well, anyway, I don't remember Robin Williams mentioning her in his dance in The Birdcage.

Whoa, The Bride Wore Black! A prime Truffaut just sitting out there waiting to be watched. A husband is murdered on his wedding day. The bride seeks revenge. Sound familiar? It should. Such an engaging blend of technique and atmosphere, both pastiche and homage. A good time.

Ratatouille was just what was needed to lighten my spirits on a particularly melancholy weeknight. A rat learns how to be a chef. It gets more ridiculous and wonderful from here. Really about the trials and tribulations of being an artist working in a mass produced commercial medium. Glad I saw it, although I am clearly late to the party.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multiplex/ Video Americain
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 7 features, 3 short films (7 in theaters)

Films Viewed (January 2012)

Life During Wartime, a sequel to Happiness, is filmmaker Todd Solondz' meditation on the aftermath of unspeakable acts and (obliquely) the state of Israel. Heavy, philosophical, and free of transgressive acts. An entirely different film from the first on several levels.

The Artist has been a bit of a minor sensation in the world of Baltimore film, opening with some fanfare on two screens at the Charles. Interesting in technique, this (mostly) silent black and white film watches the rise and fall of stars at the advent of the talkies. A perfect showcase for the throwback mugging of Jean Dujardin. Didn't blow my mind, wasn't terrible.

The Charles theater revival series helped me check The French Connection off my list. Two cops go after a big heroin bust in a complicated and crumbling 1970s NYC. A showstopping breakthrough for director William Friedkin that delivers the action movie goods but aspires to to do more (and sometimes succeeds).

Red Desert represents my first technical disappointment with a screening at the Charles in some years. Having just seen the rapturous Criterion restoration of the film on a hi-def television, this print looked muddy and dark (problem with the bulb? problem with the projector?). In a film so carefully color coded, the effect for me was ruinous. Still, I focused more on other aspects of the film this time around and discovered new things.

The Descendents deserves the acclaim piled upon it, the story of an aging and reluctant patriarch deciding the fate of his family's land inheritance while also dealing with his wife's coma and apparent infidelity. Just note perfect. As a divorced kid, I can relate to many aspects of this dysfunctional family tale.
Week End is always good, Godard throwing up his hands and saying "I give up." A wonderful mess of a film. The revolution is just around the corner as two crude bourgeois cardboard cut-outs head for a weekend in the country. Nice to see it with a friend of a friend who does not often wade in such waters.

Moneyball was not a bad choice for a rental. A small-market baseball general manager figures out how to utilize statistics to build a successful team. Filled with Pyrrhic victories, sharp dialogue, and solid performances.
Hoo boy, A Dangerous Method! Freud meets Jung, Freud loses Jung... you know the story. Or do you? Kiera Knightley gives a brave and open performance as the test case at the dawn of a new era of psychoanalysis and psychiatry.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was a jolly good time, all grey and drab and British. Cold war spies battle back and forth as spies do, cautiously, silently and cleverly. Cream of the crop ensemble cast, perfect director for such material. Sure, it was the CliffsNotes version of the plot, but I'm a quick study.

The Mill & the Cross serves as an auspicious introduction of more contemporary films to the Charles theater revival series. Rutger Hauer as Breugel, painting the world around him. A smart, visually sumptuous art film. Who were all those people packing the screening? Good for them, and good for the Charles.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multiplex/ Video Americain
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 10 features (8 in theaters)

Gaps in My Filmic Memory 2011

NOTE: Despite safeguards against it, I apparently forgot to write up a few films I viewed this past year. If you remember any more movies I saw and didn't remember to write down, please let me know.

The Tree of Life is a baffling omission since I enjoyed it so thoroughly. Terrence Malick makes films rarely, but, when he does, I find them spectacular. A family is the focus of this cosmic pondering of the meaning of life which is not afraid to go all the way back to the beginning (of life itself) to get to where it is going. Some theaters put up signs indicating that there would be no refunds for the new Brad Pitt vehicle. In any case, it sure wasn't a direct hit on the "Joe Popcorn" crowd. (June 2011)

The Wild Child was a late Truffaut revival that I was happy to see, the (based on a true) story of a "wild boy" who is brought in and nurtured by a doctor who in interested in his condition. My newly-sharpened "horse sense" says the child fell somewhere on the autism spectrum, but that's my take. It was bonus to have this song stuck in my head throughout. (Saturday, December 3rd. 2011)

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multiplex/ Video Americain / Creative Alliance
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 2 features (2 in theaters)

Films Viewed (December 2011)

Seeing a preview of Young Adult was a nice alternative to the Mount Vernon Monument Lighting hoo-ha. A woman returns from the big city to try to re-kindle a romance with her high school sweetheart. So what if he is happily married and anew father? So what if she is an alcoholic train-wreck of a human being? Cruel and grim and very in tune with the status updates of my fellow class of 1994 high school graduates.

Chelsea Girls was a rare treat, an Andy Warhol film dual-projected at the Creative Alliance thanks to Matt Porterfield. Various Warhol superstars interact in improvised scenes like they are on some alternate reality speed-drenched soap opera. Not for the short of attention span, each scene plays out in one take, the audio alternating to give emphasis to one scene over another as the two projectors unspool.

I missed the recent screenings of Diner at the Charles, so I substituted with Netflix Instant, where it happened to be available at the time. Although I am certain I have seen the film before, it felt new. Local Baltimore guys pull together and fall apart as adult life emerges in 1959 Baltimore. As excellent cast kept loose and improvisatory. It is amazing to see how different early 1980s Baltimore (posing as 1959 Baltimore) looks in comparison to 2011 Baltimore.

Tin Men, another in a series of Barry Levinson's "Baltimore films" screened via the Maryland Film Festival, was somehow totally new to me. Two aluminum siding salesment engage in a game of oneupsmanship that eventaully involves the affections of a wife. Great to see. A local like myself takes umbrage at Danny DeVito's attempt at the Baltimore accent, but it is a minor point.

After much anticipation. Fassbinder's World on a Wire finally played Baltimore. A man is embroiled in a computer scandal involving virtual realities. Made in 1973, the film anticipates many concerns of contemporary Science Fiction film and literature. A three and a half hour subtitled German film... that right there should tell you whether or not you are on board.

Grondhog Day concluded the second series of Gunky's Basement on a high note. A film that has the unfailing ability to put me in a better mood. Bill Murray gets trapped in the same day, learns lessons. What's not to like?

Elite Squad was on the list for a while, having never played Baltimore. A man who is a member of an elite Brazilian mercenary squad approaches retirement and burn-out as the chaos of the favela play out around him. The film has been criticized for being too right-wing and definitely takes the collegiate leftists to task repeatedly. Remains an adrenalized thrill ride nonetheless.

My Week with Marilyn was a delightful dishy cream-puff of a movie, an account of one man's interactions with Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Sir Lawrence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) over the course of the troubled production of the film The Prince and the Showgirl. Brought to life by excellent performances throughout.

Z was a film I have been meaning to see for some time. A politically assassination plays out in a corrupt Latin American country. Manages to feel both torn from the headlines of its time (the late 1960s) and wickedly satirical. Much credit must be given to director Costa-Gavras for pulling this off.

The Adventures of Tintin 3D began an epic run through the holiday season's films. Tintin buys at model ship at a flea market and adventures ensue. Fun, frenetic and in three dimensions.

I caught Le Havre right before it closed at the Charles. A kindly reformed reprobate takes in an immigrant boy on the run. Retaining some of director Aki Kaurismäki 's previous filmic bite while remaining upbeat. A deadpan fairytale.

I read Of Mice and Men for the first time in the hopes of helping my students with Sophomore English, a year I have never taught. This is a well-known and well-executed adaptation of the work. It was good to finally sit down and watch it.

Mission: Impossible began a game of catch-up with the (current) #1 movie at the box office. A great twisty thrill-ride from the years I was away from the screen. The De Palma-crafted action sequences were top-notch and sometimes ridiculous.

Tuesday, After Christmas was a Romanian film about a man caught between his wife and his lover over the holiday season. Long takes and superb naturalistic performances kept this one afloat. I look forward to continuing to explore contemporary Romanian cinema.

I kept the disc of The Sleeping Beauty so long it wound up on Netlfix Instant. A dream-like loose re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story from directoer Catherine Breillat. Way weirder than Bluebeard while still remaining engaging.

Shame was a "date night" movie that proved to be a nice bracing alternative to the usual holiday cheer. A sex addict spirals as his sister arrives to complicate his life further. A stunningly crafted film that makes me want to see the director Steve McQueen's first film. This Steve McQueen, not that one.

Mission: Impossible II was, for me, the most "eh" of the four films. Director John Woo can pull off a good action sequence without a doubt, but the rest of the film was too mired in nü-metal American era trappings. Worst use of Ving Rhames in a Mission: Impossible movie.

I much preferred Mission: Impossible III with all its J.J. Abrams coordinated spectacle. Phillip Seymour Hoffman turned in a great "bad guy" performance and the MacGuffin was finally recogized as a MacGuffin. Best use of Ving Rhames in a Mission: Impossible movie.

I am a sucker for films like Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Victorian-era setting, buddy cop bromance movie dynamics, that hint of British sophistication... good times.

Seeing Fincher's take on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) wasn't too redundant. I am of the original Swedish films only in my understanding of the phenomenon. Once we got past that "gother than goth" title sequence it was off the races, this time around the relationship between Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander more emphasized. One of these days I need to read this thing. The copy I bought while waiting for an appointment with the back surgeon is still staring back at me from my bookshelf.

Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol completed my run through the series. Director Brad Bird brought a new sensibility to the series and made the transition from animation to live action admirably. I think I was suffering from a bit of "action sequence fatigue", but overall the film was a good time.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was a raucous 1950s musical comedy starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. A beyond iconic performance by Monroe, although I think I preferred Russell's performance overall Another dipping of the toe into the genre-spanning work of revered director Howard Hawks, who one day I am going to sit down and really look at career-wise.

War Horse capped off the cinematic year. When I told people I was going to see it, they made a face I am now calling the "War Horse face." A two and a half hour epic done in the old David Lean/ John Ford style. Boy meets horse, boy loses horse... will boy regain horse? I sometimes surprise myself with my ability to be engaged by such sentimental material.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multiplex/ Video Americain / Creative Alliance
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 23 features (14 in theaters)

Films Viewed (November 2011)

Went the Day Well? was that rare propaganda film the transcends its intent enough to become a valid film experience. A British town faces a stealthy Nazi invasion. Essentially, the message is "Report Suspicious Activity," but I still had a good time.

Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest was a fond look back at the golden Age of hip hop coupled with the stresses and realities of being a part of this innovative and influential group. We watch as they implode yet again. One of those things I missed in theaters (it's Baltimore-area run was only a week or so in a County Cineplex) and waited impatiently for on DVD.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) was a prime slice of vintage popcorn thrillride set in a decaying and bankrupt New York. A subway train is highjacked, a ransom is demanded, the clock ticks. Satisfying on many levels. Grimy, gritty and wise-ass till the last freeze frame.

The Seduction of Mimi was screening in Toronto when I was there a few years ago. I filed the title in my filmic memory bank and finally managed the time to rent and watch. Earnest worker Mimi is a man of honor in this savage lampoon of hypocritical Italian morays. Lina Wertmuller has won me over, and I look forward to seeing more of her films.

Martha Mary May Marlene has divided viewers, some finding it unaffected and not very satisfying. I found it to be a taught psychological thriller worth my time, an evocation of a nightmare anchored by Elizabeth Olsen's performance. A woman returns from a mysterious disappearance into a commune/cult with much damage to attempt to unravel.

Hugo 3D was such a direct hit on me that I feel like an unreliable praise-giver. A young boy lives in the walls of a train station while unraveling mysteries that have to do with his father and the birth of cinema. Charming, beautifully shot... a movie I want to live in.

Lilya 4-Ever tells the brutal story of a Eastern European girl's descent into prostitution. Bleak, bitter, no holds barred film-making that never felt like Exploitation. A little too plodding, (the situation the woman lives in is so godawful that the reasons she would choose this life become clear quickly) but altogether effective once you settle in.

Immortals 3D was other eye-popping Tarsem Singh film, this time viewed in a Dundalk movie theater with mediocre (dark) digital projection and a terribly blown out sound system. A movie-going experience as close to watching a film on bootleg DVD in a theater as I have yet to encounter. The plot was a miss-mash of sword and sandal epic and Greek mythology. Mickey Rourke goes predictable over the top as a the villan. I say "eh".

Melancholia is why I go to the movies, to see and experience something new. Kirsten Dunst's character's wedding party, already a disaster, concludes at the beginning of a much bigger global one. Lars Von Trier captured the mood of my Fall inadvertently in film. Armageddon: now more than ever.

The Leopard was a sumptuous feast of a film, still going strong two hours into the run-time. An Italian man of means and privilege who has lived by the old codes tries to adjust to the new ways. He remains stuck between eras as the modern state of Italy is born around him. Burt Lancaster is used effectively and well. One of those "on the list" films that the Charles theater revival series finally presented an excellent opportunity to see.

Dune capped off the month. As it is a film I have seen many times and know a great deal about, I thought of it this way this time around: the first half is an excellent example of David Lynch on a big budget, all stops pulled. The second half is like a very long preview for the film that could have been appearing on the screen for the next several hours had Lynch had final cut. Always a great film to dive into; many thanks to the Gunky's Basement crew for doing it again.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multiplex/ Video Americain
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 11 features (8 in theaters)

Films Viewed (October 2011)

Shoot the Piano Player remains the prime Truffaut that I don't quite get, more a playful mishmash of genre styles than his other movies from that era. A formerly famous musician in exile gets caught up in various gangland misadventures and a tangled romance. I think I just prefer when Godard did this sort of thing, which would probably really bug Truffaut considering their complicated relationship and rivalry.

Le Rayon Vert, brought to me courtesy of the Charles theater revival series, is a mid-period Rohmer, a director I have only encountered via his "Six Moral Tales" series. A difficult woman flops in and out of various encounters and situations over the course of a ruined summer vacation. I love any film that dares question the surety of summer fun in the sun, and I found the films modes of alienation to be very engaging. Just call me Mr. Sunshine!

I was really happy to see In A Better World despite having never heard of the Oscar-winning Danish film. Masculine roles are explored via the story of two troubled boys and their distant, complicated fathers. Perhaps made more resonant thanks to the nuanced perspective of a female director and my professional experience as a teacher of dudes.

Videodrome was a classic key Cronenberg I had yet to encounter, a film ahead of its time and a look towards our frightening future of image consumption. A surreal dream of a film that rides the line between horror and Neo-noir skillfully until finally giving in to gore. Another quality Gunky's Basement screening.

It is amazing I have not seen The Grapes of Wrath before now. A digitally restored VHS copy has been floating around my personal possessions for years, purchased when I began teaching and found a crate of the novel among my potential texts for my first teaching assignment. Like a lot of things that year, I never quite got to it. A great film to see now.

Take Shelter is already clearly one of my films of the year. A family man struggles with apocalyptic visions in workaday Ohio. The masterful choices make the film powerful and effective, leaving the viewer guessing until the very end. Michael Shannon has never been more perfectly cast.

Dracula (1931) was a nod to the season and a diverting choice off the Netflix Instant queue. Tod Browning's version of this classic tale appears aware of how campy it is, and the whole thing is just so creaky, ridiculous, and over-the-top that a modern viewer can't help but hear the MST3K gang riffing on it in their heads. I prefer Whale's Frankenstein from the same year for having a bit more meat on its bones in terms of subtext and atmosphere. I don't think I've ever seen the film in its entirety until now, but the text has been referenced so many times it felt entirely familiar, especially the first twenty minutes.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multiplex
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 7 features (5 in theaters)

Charm City Cineaste Four Year Anniversay: 2007-2011

Just a quick note to mark the beginning of a fourth year of this blog.

CCC has become a strange sort of feedback mechanism for me. Through it, I am able to quickly share my thoughts about films I've seen and have a handy reference to aid my filmic memory. Did I see Rachel Getting Married? Yes, I did. In January of 2009.

I remain happy with the current format as a writing exercise. I know sometimes I don't feel like writng these capsule reviews, but I give it my darnedest. We live in a culture of instant communication and the format is a nod to that. At the same time, the lag on my posts means a film is often out of theaters by the time you read my thoughts. But maybe I am just the tipping point to putting it on the queue for later viewing.

Speaking of the queue, how about that Netflix, huh? What seemed like the happy future of film viewing has become quite the mess, current indicators being that Netflix is going to stay the course for now. I remain a Netflix subscriber, but I know millions have left the service, and there were some involved conversations in my household over our subscriber status, especially during the Quikster fiasco.

I still believe that streaming remains the future of film watching, but I am no longer sure what form that future will take. So many things we feel comfortable with (the video store, the movie theater, the television/cable channel) just don't seem to presage what is coming. In the meantime, Video Amercain is offering membership deals for anyone who dumps their Netflix account in a movement they are cheekily hashtagging as #occupyvideoamericain. It seems there is still some fight left in this beloved Baltimore institution, and I hope my travels will take me there more often in the coming months.

So, here we begin another year of me seeing movies and briefly writing about them. My focus on film exhibition in Baltimore is gone, but my current life/work situation dictates that unless the film is delivered to my doorstep or available instantly, a short walk to the Charles theater on a Saturday morning or Friday night is about all I have time for these days.

Thank you for reading and I hope I can continue to be of service.

Films Viewed (September 2011)

Attack the Block was a rollicking good time, a perfect film to close out the summer. A rag-tag band of British public housing toughs contend with an alien invasion. Well executed and an eerie echo of what happened in England this summer.

Cluny Brown was a return to more classic Charles theater revival fare. The films remains unavailable on DVD and was Ernst Lubitsch's last completed film. In pre-World War II London, a plumber's niece falls for a Czech refugee. Smart, sophisticated, and tonally askew. Jennifer Jones gives a memorable performance, her odd energy quite modern for a film released in 1946.

Rango was an odd duck plucked from the Netflix queue. An example of the kind of film I used to see in the movie theater when I went to the movie theater more often. Johnny Depp voices a chameleon who goes on an epic journey through the desert. As the wiki page says, a "computer-animated Western comedy-drama film." A visually stunning, smartly crafted crowdpleaser.

I was warned away from Cedar Rapids during its local bow, but I still found value in it. I think you have to have spent a lot of time around Midwest corny earnestness to really enjoy this film. A small town insurance agent loses his naivete in the big bad city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa during an insurance convention. A strong ensemble keeps the film afloat. No masterpiece, but I did not find great fault with it.

Elevator to the Gallows was another classic finally checked off the list thanks to the Charles theater revival series. Moody and prone to almost improvisatory excursions, I found the film to be live up to its reputation. A contract killer gets stuck in an elevator following a job, but there is much more to the story. The Miles Davis score is also notable.

Good ol' Starship Troopers capped off the month thanks to the Gunky's Basement crew.. The debate continues over the film, but I continue to find it a dark satire on the dangers of Fascism (a good article on this is here).

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multiplex
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 6 features (4 in theaters)

Films Viewed (August 2011)

Cowboys & Aliens employed an ampersand in its title. I saw it with my father. We both agreed it was "all right."

"Proud Flesh" was a short film made by two experimental filmmakers and musicians (Chiara Giovando and Jenny Graf Sheppard) which featured several of my friends as actors. A Western of sorts. I was happy to have an opportunity to see it so many years after its completion, as it has not been commercially released and was only screened locally a few times. A trailer can be seen here.

Beginners was a bit too precious for its own good at times, but had a compelling, (based on a true) story at its core. A man discovers his father is gay after the death of his mother, continues to have problems emotionally. It was a pleasure as always to watch Melanie Laurent and Christopher Plummer on the screen. I enjoyed director Mike Mills' art films, and have watched his progression into more mainstream fare with interest. Netflix confuses him with the bass player for REM, but that is not him.

Jaws remains a good time at the movies. Having seen it so many times as to have borderline memorized it, one is allowed to notice smaller details, especially when a 35mm restored print is on the big screen. The film also marked a welcome return to the Charles theater revival series, which will continue into the fall (for details, go here).

Tabloid was a lesser Erol Morris documentary, but still told a bizarre and compelling story comptently. A beautiful but unstable woman falls instantly in love with a young Mormon man. Things get decidedly complicated (and tabloid-worthy) from there.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. has title-punctuation problems but was otherwise a sharper variety of romantic comedy from an indie directing team. Of all the rom-coms this summer, I chose this one. Great cast and pleasingly complicated. The ending was improbable, but I must forgive it that flaw.

During a trip to Chicago, I saw The Future. Here, it is clear that is a movie. Miranda July manages to stay true to the vision and voice of her debut film, but takes things in a much darker and despairing direction. A couple in their mid-thirties realizes that they are in their mid-thirties. Let us just say, in some ways, the film was a direct hit on the creeping dread of someone born in 1976. Should be playing at the Charles theater in the coming weeks.

The Man Who Fell to Earth was another Roeg to check off the list, and was not the space fantasy I expected. Far from Ziggy Stardust: The Movie, what transpired on screen was much more realistic and cynical. A perfect snapshot of mid-seventies rock star excess and post-Watergate cynicism/paranoia.

As Hurricane Irene approached, I spent a weekend watching various Netfilx items of interest. First up, Jim Jarmusch's break-out film Stranger than Paradise, which reminded me of the attitude and interests of the art and music underground denizens I encountered in the 1980's, when I was just getting started out trying to be cool. Two NYC toughs go on the make with a newly-arrived Hungarian woman. Gritty yet mannered, cool to the touch and deadpan, the film marks the beginning of the Jarmusch style, which I have greatly admired for some time.

Pale Flower popped on and off the Netflix Instant as the storm raged outside. A tough-as-nails Japanese Noir from a director I have yet to explore. A hardened killer recently released from prison meets a highborn lady looking for excitement in the gambling dens of early 1960s Tokyo, and the two begin a run through the urban jungle. Guess how it turns out? Not too well.

Bananas is an early Woody Allen film. Things are schticky and Mad magazine anarchic as Woody's protagonist gets mixed up in the politics of a Latin American country. Fun, diverting, and about to expire on the Netflix Instant queue, so why not?

Trash was also about to expire in more ways than one. A junkie hustler wanders through the New York City of the 1970s and becomes involved in various capers and misadventures. Andy Warhol "produced", Paul Morrissey directed. So trashy and insane and non-acted it became somewhat compelling. Here is an article about other underground films that have been streaming on Netflix Instant.

Something Wild was a successful 1980s re-invention of the romantic comedy road movie from director Jonathan Demme. Three actors (Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta) are so on-point and in their moment it is astounding to watch. A professional man is "kidnapped" by a wild woman who asks him to pretend to be her husband. A joyride that soon spins out of control. Blink and you will miss a cameo by Baltimore's own John Waters.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
The Music Box Theater(Chicago)
Suburban Multiplex
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 12 features, 1 short film (7 in theaters)

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)

Films Viewed (June 2011)

The Hangover, Part Two was the kind of film you watch and are saddened by due to its non-existent cast chemistry and high budget pointless seediness. Then you leave the theater and think "that was okay." I am pretty sure there was some sort of hypnotic suggestion in the last five minutes that made me think that. Of course, I bought the ticket, so I can't complain. another foray into "movies my students are going to see this summer" cinema.

X-Men: First Class was X-Men, Mad Men style! Diverting and unafraid to re-write comic book mythos to make for a better story, this prequel got in and did its job of selling popcorn well.

Who is Harry Nilsson (and why is Everybody Talkin' about him?) was a solid documentary about an artist to which I am underexposed. A bit too defensive of his obvious substance abuse issues, but otherwise engaging,

Biutiful was a huge downer, the first time I have seen Barcelona, Spain painted in such a harsh and ugly light. A man on the margins realizes he is dying, trying to finish up his life correctly. Innaritu needs to make a new sort of movie soon.

Super 8 was another slick summer popcorn-selling machine, this time humming along as a straight-up tribute to all things summer and Spielberg. Young people make a movie in 1979 as mysterious events unfold around them.Fleshed out correctly for maximum nostalgic impact with some solid performances.

Midnight in Paris is the highest grossing Woody Allen film of all time. A man falls in love with the Paris if the 1920s, gets a chance to go back in time to visit it. Found myself having many fond "English major" flashbacks as Owen Wilson's character converses with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and the rest of the expatriate gang.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg has been on the list for a while, and I am glad to check out Cahterine Denuve being young and falling in love, especially in Jacques Demy's jarringly realistic 1960's French musical. From that part of the early summer when I harbored the illusion of spare time and restful evenings.

Submarine was rushed into theaters before people could think too much and would just go see it. On paper, it sounded good. A British "coming of age" film written and directed by a rising British comic writer and actor. In execution, things remained tonally off and minor key, the emphasis placed in the wrong places. Maybe next time around?

The Spirit of the Beehive was a last minute "Oh... rent two get one free?" choice at Video Americain. Very difficult to encapsulate. Stunningly beautiful and hypnotic. A young girl living at the dawn of Franco's reign in Spain is powerfully moved by an encounter with James Whale's Frankenstein. Very much a film from an imaginative child's perspective, if you can remember what is was like to be eight years old.

Warrendale was a Canadian verite documentary set in a school for emotionally disturbed children. Very powerful and very close to the bone. I watched it the morning my films were due back at the video store. Maybe not the best start to my day, but powerful regardless.

Overlord was an odd duck, sitting there about to expire on the Netflix Instant queue, so I went for it. An intermixing of archival footage and new material, both focusing on the movements of a British soldier in the second world war. Came off stuck between a conventional war film and art-house fare.

Quiet City was a happy surprise, showing up off of the Netflix queue due to some shuffling around. A boy and girl meet entirely randomly and accidentally and spend a weekend together. Held in place by the brave and open performance of the leads actors Erin Fisher and Chris Lankenau, Quiet City works wonders with very little. You can watch the entire film on Google Video right now.

Green Lantern 3D was the beginning of my stumbling through the summer movie season, the promise I made myself in May getting harder and harder to keep. Ryan Reynolds becomes a galactic guardian. This is a "B" movie dressed up in "A" special effects, which makes it less fun. I was raised on the fun of the Million Dollar Movie, and this movie cost three hundred million and managed to have half as much fun as the carpet barn monster

The Virgin Suicides was fun to revisit, remaining an auspicious directorial debut for Sophia Coppola. Grown men reminisce over a fabled and doomed group of sisters that lived next door, just out of reach. I think when I first saw it I didn't get the teenage awkwardness was intentional. I guess a decade of being around it has made me fluent in it.

Bad Teacher was a good premise executed too broadly, standing in a pale shadow to Bridesmaids in terms of summer comedy fare, but still passably funny. A very talented supporting cast definitely kept Cameron Diaz afloat. An aspiring gold-digger gets sidelined into another year of teaching and becomes caught up in a "race to the top" in terms of standardized test scores, all in the hopes of using her cash bonus to purchase breast implants.

Loulou has been floating around my VHS piles for some time. A woman gives up her bourgeoisie existence to pursue a life on the run with charming thug Loulou. The role was a breakout for Gerard Depardieu. I enjoy the works of director Maurice Pialat but they remain hard to find in the US. His films were so far ahead of their time I feel like we are only now catching up with them.

Key
The Charles
The Rotunda
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
Suburban Multilpex/ Video Americain
Netflix Instant/ Netflix DVD
(Please note: Whenever possible, all releases are linked to their pages on the Netflix website)
Total: 16 features (7 in theaters)