October Home Video Roundup
Did you miss me? Forgive the silence of the last couple months - I've been so busy getting involved in other people's projects that I've been fully neglecting my own. I'm like the Adrian Tomine of crap.
In the coming weeks, I will be sneakily back-posting a few reviews for things I've seen in the last few months that for whatever reason never got posted. A few may even be up by the time you read this! It's up to you to find them, loyal readers, as my legal counsel has informed me that on this particular topic I must remain regrettably mum, lest they revoke my blogging license. That's a joke. You don't need a license to have a blog any more than you need a license to have a kid. And have you seen some of the stupid, ugly blogs out there?
Anyways, again, apologies. I'll try to get back on the ball, review-wise, and have something posted about a movie by the end of the weekend in which I saw said movie. In the meantime, to tide you over, as well as to give a nod to a few recent movies that I couldn't be bothered to see on the big screen, I give you the first in what I hope to be an occasional-but-regular segment of moviesofmike., the home video roundup.
The Aggressives (dir. Jeong Jae-Eun, wr. Jeong Jae-Eun) - Having thoroughly enjoyed Jeong Jae-Eun's feature debut Take Care of My Cat (near the top of my list of favorite movies of the 2000s so far), I eagerly anticipated a chance to get my hands on her follow-up feature, The Aggressives. Unfortunately, I must say I'm a bit disappointed. At first glance, the frenetic camerawork and mad pacing of the film makes it completely unrecognizable from the steady heartbeat that defined her previous film. About halfway through, though, you start to get what she's trying to do (at least I think I get it) - the spastic camera-work and Mountain-Dew-commercial editing (EXTREEEME!) is just as much a reflection of the lives, inner and outer, of what we can only assume is Korea's not-non-existent aggressive in-line skate subculture as the dreamy, hazy, somnambulistic approach of Take Care of My Cat reflected the lives of the young-women-on-the-verge of that film.
Does it work? Is it just an unfortunate case of an artist's subsequent work always being seen through the rosy gauze of their first? I don't think so, as I've seen a handful of short films that Jeong has made, both before and after Cat, and I feel like the dreamy style on Cat is pretty indicative of what she knows, and understands, best. So, kudos to her for trying something new; unfortunately, I just didn't buy it. I didn't get these characters (I tried), so I couldn't really care what happened to them (I tried). And I especially did not like the big "Hollywood" ending (I didn't try). Now available at a Hong-Kong-bootlegged Chinatown DVD shop near you.
Me and You and Everyone We Know (dir. Miranda July, wr. Miranda July) - cute flick, with more than a few moments that genuinely moved me (I liked the scene with the goldfish) but waaay too precious to ever make it into my personal collection. Although, that "pooping back and forth" emoticon is, like, my favorite thing right now.
Melinda and Melinda (dir. Woody Allen, wr. Woody Allen) - Woody Allen, to me, is one of those people whose movies you really want to like, even after you finish watching them, even after they sorta suck. Strangely, the one he did with Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci a few years back, Anything Else, was to me probably the most interesting movie he's made since, say, Deconstructing Harry, and probably my favorite of his since, say, Everyone Says I Love You (a movie that is simultaneously vastly entertaining and completely uninteresting). A lot of hopes are being pinned on the forthcoming Match Point, which people say is incredible, but we'll just have to wait and see. Anyways, Melinda and Melinda tells a parallel narrative of two versions of a story about a messed-up woman named Melinda (Radha Mitchell) who disrupts the lives of a small group of angsty Upper East Siders, as told over dinner by a bunch of pretentious Upper East Siders. One story is ostensibly a comedy (you can tell that it's a comedy not so much because it's funny but because Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell are in it), the other ostensibly a tragedy (you can tell...[snip]...Chloe Sevigny is in it). The two stories are being told in an attempt to find which is better or, at least, has more value: comedy or tragedy. Conclusion: people need both.
If that's what passes for great human insight in your own household, you have probably already seen (and been told that you absolutely adore) Crash (dir. Paul Haggis, wr. Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco). For all the swearing, explosions, histrionics and gunplay, the idea Haggis seems to be reaching for is that people everywhere are lonely and angry and scared, causing us to lash out at other people, and racism is usually the first place people go because it is the easiest, fastest, and most obvious way to dislike or to hurt someone. And the revelation is...what? (other than, gasp!, some Asian people speak English! The horror!) And the solution is...what?
I'm sorry, it's probably not nearly as bad a movie as I'm making it sound (a number of cheesy slow-motion shots aside, it is actually photographed quite nicely), it's just that.... Okay, I see a lot of movies that I think are pretty stupid, but usually by the time I get home, finish eating, or stick the thing in the mail back to Netflix, I've happily pretty much forgotten all about them. But, every once in a while, for whatever reason, one of these movies that I think are pretty unnoteworthy somehow captures the imagination of moviegoers at large, and then for the next year and a half I have to listen to people in the lunchroom gushing about how "beautiful", how "moving", how "deep", how "important" such-and-such movie is. And it is at that moment when that movie earns a special place in my dark and hateful heart as one of those movies that I HATE, and that I will always HATE, forever and ever and ever again. It happened with Dark City. It happened with Requiem for a Dream. It happened with Hero. It happened with Million Dollar Baby. To a slightly lesser extent, it happened with all three Lord of the Rings movies (which are like ballet or opera to me - yes, I know that it was a very difficult thing to pull off, and that everyone displays great talent at what they do, and while I can appreciate their good works on a purely technical level, none of it makes me FEEL anything, one way or the other). And unfortunately (for someone, I guess), it happened with Crash. Back against the wall, pal.
On the polar opposite end of the DVD suck-spectrum is Kontroll (dir. Nimrod Antal, wr. Jim Adler, Nimrod Antal). Oh, how I wish I caught this little gem of a film on the big screen. A surreal-yet-grittily-realistic look into the lives of clinically insane Polish subway inspectors (one gets the impression that you'd have to be insane to even apply), it's the rare film that can be simultaneously hilarious, depressingly horrific, heart-poundingly suspenseful, intelligent, and ultimately uplifting. Destined to be among my top 10 favorite movies of 2005, as unfortunately there isn't very much on the horizon to which I am looking forward (moviewise). Live in fear of the inevitable U.S. remake, starring, say, I don't know, Ewan MacGregor.
In the coming weeks, I will be sneakily back-posting a few reviews for things I've seen in the last few months that for whatever reason never got posted. A few may even be up by the time you read this! It's up to you to find them, loyal readers, as my legal counsel has informed me that on this particular topic I must remain regrettably mum, lest they revoke my blogging license. That's a joke. You don't need a license to have a blog any more than you need a license to have a kid. And have you seen some of the stupid, ugly blogs out there?
Anyways, again, apologies. I'll try to get back on the ball, review-wise, and have something posted about a movie by the end of the weekend in which I saw said movie. In the meantime, to tide you over, as well as to give a nod to a few recent movies that I couldn't be bothered to see on the big screen, I give you the first in what I hope to be an occasional-but-regular segment of moviesofmike., the home video roundup.
The Aggressives (dir. Jeong Jae-Eun, wr. Jeong Jae-Eun) - Having thoroughly enjoyed Jeong Jae-Eun's feature debut Take Care of My Cat (near the top of my list of favorite movies of the 2000s so far), I eagerly anticipated a chance to get my hands on her follow-up feature, The Aggressives. Unfortunately, I must say I'm a bit disappointed. At first glance, the frenetic camerawork and mad pacing of the film makes it completely unrecognizable from the steady heartbeat that defined her previous film. About halfway through, though, you start to get what she's trying to do (at least I think I get it) - the spastic camera-work and Mountain-Dew-commercial editing (EXTREEEME!) is just as much a reflection of the lives, inner and outer, of what we can only assume is Korea's not-non-existent aggressive in-line skate subculture as the dreamy, hazy, somnambulistic approach of Take Care of My Cat reflected the lives of the young-women-on-the-verge of that film.Does it work? Is it just an unfortunate case of an artist's subsequent work always being seen through the rosy gauze of their first? I don't think so, as I've seen a handful of short films that Jeong has made, both before and after Cat, and I feel like the dreamy style on Cat is pretty indicative of what she knows, and understands, best. So, kudos to her for trying something new; unfortunately, I just didn't buy it. I didn't get these characters (I tried), so I couldn't really care what happened to them (I tried). And I especially did not like the big "Hollywood" ending (I didn't try). Now available at a Hong-Kong-bootlegged Chinatown DVD shop near you.
Me and You and Everyone We Know (dir. Miranda July, wr. Miranda July) - cute flick, with more than a few moments that genuinely moved me (I liked the scene with the goldfish) but waaay too precious to ever make it into my personal collection. Although, that "pooping back and forth" emoticon is, like, my favorite thing right now.
Melinda and Melinda (dir. Woody Allen, wr. Woody Allen) - Woody Allen, to me, is one of those people whose movies you really want to like, even after you finish watching them, even after they sorta suck. Strangely, the one he did with Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci a few years back, Anything Else, was to me probably the most interesting movie he's made since, say, Deconstructing Harry, and probably my favorite of his since, say, Everyone Says I Love You (a movie that is simultaneously vastly entertaining and completely uninteresting). A lot of hopes are being pinned on the forthcoming Match Point, which people say is incredible, but we'll just have to wait and see. Anyways, Melinda and Melinda tells a parallel narrative of two versions of a story about a messed-up woman named Melinda (Radha Mitchell) who disrupts the lives of a small group of angsty Upper East Siders, as told over dinner by a bunch of pretentious Upper East Siders. One story is ostensibly a comedy (you can tell that it's a comedy not so much because it's funny but because Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell are in it), the other ostensibly a tragedy (you can tell...[snip]...Chloe Sevigny is in it). The two stories are being told in an attempt to find which is better or, at least, has more value: comedy or tragedy. Conclusion: people need both.
If that's what passes for great human insight in your own household, you have probably already seen (and been told that you absolutely adore) Crash (dir. Paul Haggis, wr. Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco). For all the swearing, explosions, histrionics and gunplay, the idea Haggis seems to be reaching for is that people everywhere are lonely and angry and scared, causing us to lash out at other people, and racism is usually the first place people go because it is the easiest, fastest, and most obvious way to dislike or to hurt someone. And the revelation is...what? (other than, gasp!, some Asian people speak English! The horror!) And the solution is...what?I'm sorry, it's probably not nearly as bad a movie as I'm making it sound (a number of cheesy slow-motion shots aside, it is actually photographed quite nicely), it's just that.... Okay, I see a lot of movies that I think are pretty stupid, but usually by the time I get home, finish eating, or stick the thing in the mail back to Netflix, I've happily pretty much forgotten all about them. But, every once in a while, for whatever reason, one of these movies that I think are pretty unnoteworthy somehow captures the imagination of moviegoers at large, and then for the next year and a half I have to listen to people in the lunchroom gushing about how "beautiful", how "moving", how "deep", how "important" such-and-such movie is. And it is at that moment when that movie earns a special place in my dark and hateful heart as one of those movies that I HATE, and that I will always HATE, forever and ever and ever again. It happened with Dark City. It happened with Requiem for a Dream. It happened with Hero. It happened with Million Dollar Baby. To a slightly lesser extent, it happened with all three Lord of the Rings movies (which are like ballet or opera to me - yes, I know that it was a very difficult thing to pull off, and that everyone displays great talent at what they do, and while I can appreciate their good works on a purely technical level, none of it makes me FEEL anything, one way or the other). And unfortunately (for someone, I guess), it happened with Crash. Back against the wall, pal.
On the polar opposite end of the DVD suck-spectrum is Kontroll (dir. Nimrod Antal, wr. Jim Adler, Nimrod Antal). Oh, how I wish I caught this little gem of a film on the big screen. A surreal-yet-grittily-realistic look into the lives of clinically insane Polish subway inspectors (one gets the impression that you'd have to be insane to even apply), it's the rare film that can be simultaneously hilarious, depressingly horrific, heart-poundingly suspenseful, intelligent, and ultimately uplifting. Destined to be among my top 10 favorite movies of 2005, as unfortunately there isn't very much on the horizon to which I am looking forward (moviewise). Live in fear of the inevitable U.S. remake, starring, say, I don't know, Ewan MacGregor.
posted by mike. at 8:05 PM
4 Comments:
Ok, so you're just one of those people who hates something just because its popular, right?
DS
Hey DS (are you THE "DS"??).
Not the first time I've been accused as such, and certainly not the last, but no, I hope I'm not one of those people. To me, hating something JUST because it's popular is no different than liking something JUST because it's popular - you're still letting other people's opinions of something influence how you feel about something, so what's the difference?
But no, there have been lots of times when "smaller" movies I've enjoyed go on to bigger, popular success, and when it happens I actually feel pretty vindicated, whether I think the film truly does deserve the kind of attention it gets ("American Splendor", "Smoke", "Magnolia", "Lost in Translation", "Ghost World", to name a few) or not ("Sideways", to name one - certainly still one of my favorite films of last year, but I think neither as life-changing nor as generation-defining as some people make it out to be).
Do you see any small movies really catching on like that this year? Good ones I mean.
Not that I can think of. I thought "Junebug" might have had a shot, but I suppose it would have happened by now if it was going to.
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