Gateway Cinephiles

Film Diary: Michael Clayton

2007
Director: Tony Gilroy
Viewed: February 23, 2008
Format: DVD - Warner Brothers (2008)

Review: Meet the Robinsons

2007
Director: Stephen J. Anderson
Viewed: January 31, 2008
Format: DVD – Disney (2007)

Yet another installment of “Children’s Movies that Do Not Suck. Unless They Do.”

I was pleasantly surprised by this somewhat throwaway Disney title. I rented it for my students to get through a dreary winter afternoon. When I announced the title of the movie I’d rented, I learned that most of the kids had seen and loved it. This sort of recommendation can go either way. It either means the movie was terrible, childish, and gross, or it means the movie was great and had the universal appeal of a Ratatouille or Beauty and the Beast. Happily, Meet the Robinsons falls under the latter category.

Read the rest…

Film Diary: Poison Friends (Les Amitiés Maléfiques)

2006
Director: Emmanuel Bourdieu
Viewed: February 21, 2008
Format: DVD - Strand Releasing (2007)

If you ever spent time in academia, chances are you probably knew someone like André Morney, the vigorous Parisian prodigy at the heart of Poison Friends. Morney energizes everyone he meets with his ferocity and wit. Unfortunately, he’s also a mendacious, careless asswipe. The script by Bourdieu and Marcia Romano is far more fascinating than expected, and has plenty of raw, bloody insight into the values of the intellectual class. Too bad the cinematography in Friends is so uneven, veering between limp naturalism and the odd moment of inspired visual craft. Still, a prickly, impressive little film.

Film Diary: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1977
Director: Steven Spielberg
Viewed: February 21, 2008
Format: DVD - Sony (2007)

Film Diary: Breakfast At Tiffany’s

1961
Director: Blake Edwards
Viewed: February 20, 2008
Format: DVD - Paramount (2006)

3-Minute Intro: Black Snake Moan

Screened: February 19, 2008
Format: DVD - Paramount (2007)
Selected By: Teresa

Envision the most preposterous, incendiary story that a major Hollywood studio would dare to distribute in the twenty-first century, and that film might look something like Black Snake Moan. It’s probably best to describe Craig Brewer’s 2007 journey into sweat-stained, southern-fried hell straightforwardly: This is the story of an older black man who chains a younger white woman to his radiator in order to cure her of nymphomania. Much like Brewer’s breakout feature, Hustle & Flow, Moan provoked accusations of poor taste, questionable intent, and outright misogyny. It proved to be among the most divisive films of the year, appearing on numerous Best and Worst of 2007 lists.

With financial backing from black new wave director John Singleton, Brewer caught filmgoers’ attention at the Sundance Film Festival with his 2005 prostitution-and-hip-hop epic. Even his most recent film’s detractors seem to agree that Black Snake Moan represents a leap forward for Brewer, a refinement of his aesthetic and a deepening of his audacious convictions. Moan is an exploitation film in the finest tradition of the genre, and serves as a soulful homage to the stickiest crevasses of backwoods Tennessee. Whether the film also offers an ugly, retrograde understanding of women is hotly debated, and it will likely remain contentious for some time.

Christina Ricci lays claim to the standout performance in Moan; she clearly values a compelling portrayal more than anything as fleeting as dignity. Her turn as the bedraggled, hollow-eyed, sex-crazed Rae may be the role of her career. Samuel L. Jackson, as broken blues hound Lazarus, has the tricky task of appealing to the viewer’s sympathies even as he enslaves a woman “for her own good.” Jackson learned to play the guitar just for this film–an appropriate feat, given that Brewer relies heavily on a molasses-thick blues sensibility to inform the film’s look and rhythms. Like the blues, Moan drips with desperation and a shameless understanding of its own urges. Ultimately, Black Snake Moan is ambiguous as to the redemptive power of kidnapping, but it has a whole lot of fun gaping at the sheer ugliness and splendor of broken people in conflict.

Film Diary: Air Guitar Nation

2006
Director: Alexandra Lipsitz
Viewed: February 18, 2008
Format: DVD - Docurama (2007)

Less a documentary than a promotional film for the American national championships, Air Guitar Nation isn’t anything special. Lipsitz just isn’t that interested in air guitar as social phenomenon, although she captures some flashes of humanity and depth here and there, such as when American champ David “C-Diddy” Jung opens up about how much his parents’ approval means to him. No, what we get is mostly a straightforward guts-n’-glory competition narrative. That said, Air Guitar Nation is a perfectly enjoyable diversion, and Lipsitz demonstrates that she understands the infectious character of the cultural behemoth that is rock-n’-roll.

Film Diary: No Country for Old Men

2007
Director: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Viewed: February 17, 2008
Format: Theatrical Print

Film Diary: Elizabeth: the Golden Age

2007
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Viewed: February 18 , 2008
Format: DVD - Universal (2008)

Film Diary: Gone Baby Gone

2007
Director: Ben Affleck
Viewed: February 17, 2008
Format: DVD - Miramax (2008)