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Film Epidemic: December 2005
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Friday, December 30, 2005. Crash (Haggis, 2004). Take one thinly drawn character. Add thinly drawn character of a different race. Add one disingenuous contrivance. Sprinkle liberally with sanctimonious melodrama. Underscore with ethereal new age music. Is the kind of film Satan would make to give racial tolerance a bad name. I've already wasted two hours on this drivel . I'm not wasting another minute. Posted by Joel at 12:19 AM. Palindromes (Solondz, 2004).
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Film Epidemic: April 2006
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Wednesday, April 26, 2006. The Wild (Williams, 2006). The direction for Disney’s latest venture into computer animation, The Wild. For the finished product. Don’t blame the animators though. The animal creations are mostly fantastic to behold and there are a couple of sequences that truly deserve to belong to a different film. However, what good is the best animation if it is in the service of sustained idiocy and lazy sentimentalism? Tuesday, April 25, 2006.
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Film Epidemic: March 2006
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Wednesday, March 29, 2006. See the Sea (Ozon, 1997). The most compelling aspect of Francois Ozon’s See the Sea. Is she a violent threat? A threat to the baby’s safety? Posted by Joel at 10:37 AM. Sunday, March 26, 2006. A Director to Adapt Each of Shakespeare's Plays #22 - OTHELLO directed by Michael Haneke. I choose Michael Haneke, whose Funny Games. Haneke films I have seen:. 1 The Piano Teacher. 6 The Time of the Wolf. Posted by Joel at 12:41 AM. How woul...
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Film Epidemic: November 2005
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Monday, November 28, 2005. De Palma, 1970). Made very early on in the career of homage-crazy director, Brian DePalma, Hi, Mom! Is a film that captures much of what is so exciting about the cinema of the late sixties and early seventies. In order to reflect a world of tumult - including racial tension, heightened political consciousness and sexual awakening film directors often toyed radically with style, questioning convention and decorum at every turn.
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Film Epidemic: October 2005
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Thursday, October 27, 2005. Even Dwarfs Started Small (Herzog, 1970). You have to hand it to Werner Herzog. When his films fail, they do so spectacularly. The 1970 film, Even Dwarfs Started Small. Employs an all-‘little person’ cast in order to enact a chaotic, allegorical film about something. Some say it is a film demonstrating the self-defeating tendencies of the revolutionary. They play mischievous tricks on the blind. They set fire to flora and torment ...
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Film Epidemic: September 2005
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Thursday, September 22, 2005. Nowhere in Africa (Link, 2001). What is the most critical element in defining a human being? In times of severe crisis, what do we look to in order to give us strength and purpose? This is the driving question at the heart of Caroline Link’s impressive drama, Nowhere in Africa. A film that beat out such competition as Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without a Past. And Zhang Yimou’s Hero. Throughout all of this, the family’s cohesion b...
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Film Epidemic: February 2006
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Saturday, February 25, 2006. The Notorious Bettie Page (Harron, 2005). One generation’s unspeakable pornography is another generation’s kitsch in Mary Harron’s lightweight but enjoyable The Notorious Bettie Page. Tracing her journey from sweet-faced innocent to swimsuit model to fetish icon and finally to evangelical, Harron’s film is at its best evoking 1950’s. With its costuming, art direction and knowing nods to relics like Sunbathing. She is called to Co...
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Film Epidemic: January 2006
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Thursday, January 26, 2006. A Director to Adapt Each of Shakespeare's Plays #20: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM directed by Nick Park. Hermia and Lysander want to get married. But Hermia’s Dad wants her to marry Demetrius. Add into the mix Helena, who wants to marry Demetrius, and we’ve got some matchmaking to sort out. Since this is Shakespeare, we better head into the forest! As well as Chicken Run. Park films I have seen:. 1 The Wrong Trousers. 4 A Close Shave.
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Film Epidemic: August 2005
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Collected film reviews, essays and commentary. Wednesday, August 31, 2005. My 20 favorite films of the Silent Era (pre-1930). 17 The Gold Rush. 15 Steamboat Bill Jr. 14 The Man With the Movie Camera. 13 The Man Who Laughs. 12 The Thief of Bagdad. 08 The Passion of Joan of Arc. 06 The Fall of the House of Usher. 05 The Last Laugh. 03 Un Chien Andalou. Posted by Joel at 1:55 PM. Tuesday, August 30, 2005. A Director to Adapt Each of Shakespeare's Plays #9 - HENRY V directed by Peter Weir. In which an averag...