My January 2006 movie-watching (NOT a 10-best list) Feb 01 '06 (Updated Apr 15 '10)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Movies Love and Basketball From $6 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy From $8 The Bottom Line "Blind Shaft" and "Walk on Water" deserve wider audiences. Still at it? Force of habit, I guess, after following through to list all the movies I watched last year. I watched many in January, with more than a few disappointments, but with some pleasant surprises, too, and finding that some others that I had not seen in decades still please me on re-viewings. In chronological order of their making: Das fidele Gefangnis (The Merry Jail, 1917, directed by Ernst Lubitsch). Not for the first time, "the Lubitsch touch" mystifies me. Even with Emil Janning mugging as a simple-minded and seemingly homosexual jailer, there is little that I find funny, let alone witty in this silent comedy of a wife (Kitty Dewall) wearing a mask seducing her drunkard caddish husband (Harry Liedtke), while someone else has an enjoyable night in jail to avoid compromising her. Body and Soul (1925, directed by Oscar Michaux, 2.5 stars) is a Victorian melodrama about a preacher/seducer (Paul Robeson in his film debut) who is not just a hypocrite, but a complete scoundrel. The movie is only of historical interest—both for showcasing Robeson (whose charisma comes across even without his famous voice) and for being a movie made by African Americans for African American audiences that was as stereotypical in its presentation of African Americans as "Birth of a Nation" was a decade earlier. Interestingly, it showed a "Reverend" who made Elmer Gantry look saintly in comparison. Like "The Emperor Jones," a part which Robeson had already played on stage and would recreate on film in 1933, the Reverend Isaiah T. Jenkin is a swaggering con man who has lorded it over other colored people (using the locution of that day), falls, and flees in desperation. The New York state censors condemned the movie en toto. Micheaux cut it from 9 reels to 5 and somehow made the false Reverend not the villain (I can't imagine how!). The restored version (8 reels in length with drinking but not gambling scenes restored) has endings that make no sense. The mise-en-scène is remarkably static (except for the big Dry Bones sermon driving the congregation into delirium) and is as much like a filmed stage play as early talkies in which the camera was immobilized by sound equipment. The actors seemed largely also to be rooted in place, whether in the small church or in the parlor of Sister Martha Jane (the light-skinned mother eager to marry off her daughter to the Reverend). There is very little camera movement. There is no lack of jump-cuts, although the purpose of them escapes me. Many are to minor figures sitting more or less still. The Hurricane (1937, directed by John Ford, 3.2 stars) is inferior to "Tabu," but not without interest with Jon Hall as a Polynesian, John Carradine as his nemesis, and Raymond Massey in one of his stiff, dutiful roles, as Mary Astor and Thomas Mitchell try to acculturate him. Along with "San Francisco" and "In Old Chicago," this was one of the large-scale, hyper-melodramatic disaster movies of the late-1930s. Topper (1937, directed by Norman Z. McLeod, 3.8 stars) is a screwball comedy with Cary Grant and Constance Bennett a rich couple who become subversive ghosts aiming to improve the regimented life of henpecked banker Roland Young. Alan Mowbray is very funny as the butler. Bringing Up Baby (1938, directed by Howard Hawks, 4.8 stars) continues to entertain (it's difficult to understand why 1933 audiences weren't) with the headstrong, devious, fast-talking Katharine Hepburn and the innocent Cary Grant trying to escape her net (at one point, a literal one) and various humiliations that include the woman's dressing-gown and the explanation of having "gone gay." Babes in Arms (1939, directed by Busby Berkeley, 1.7 stars). The Judy and Mickey and the kids putting on a show movie is very corny. What is appalling is the bonfire to Wagner and the minstrel show with Garland, Rooney et al. in blackface. (This is every bit as hideous as Rooney's Japanese stereotypy in "Breakfast at Tiffany's 22 years later). Pillow To Post (1945, directed by Vincent Sherman, 3.7 stars) A silly movie about complications of the WWII housing shortage showed that Ida Lupino could do comedy. Sydney Greenstreet was not a jolly fat man, but a relatively genial one as William Prince's commanding officer. Tales of Hoffman (1949, adapted and direct by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburg, 3.8 stars) is a masterpiece of color photography and artificiality. But for those not fans of Offenbach or of ballet, it's a bore. The Criterion DVD includes commentary by Martin Scorcese and George Romero. With Leonide Massine and Frederick Ashton onscreen as well as choreographing, the movie is essential for those interested in ballet history. The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949, written and directed by Preston Sturges, 3.2 stars) is a lesser Sturges farce, the only one filmed in color. Betty Grable is almost as effective a school-teacher as Mae West was in "My Little Chickadee." Plus she's a crack shot (as long as others aren't wrestling her for her six-shooter). There's a demented shoot-out that goes on too long and some of the running gags limp, and it doesn't have William Demarest or Eddie Bracken or Franklin Pangborn (from the Sturges repertory company, it does have Rudy Vallee), but it's certainly not a movie that should have ended a career, as its failure seems to have. Whirlpool (1949, directed by Otto Preminger, 3.1 stars) is not in the league of "Laura," though it also stars Gene Tierney as a beautiful haunted/enigmatic sleepwalker (hypnotized herein). Most of it occurs during the day, though the finale is nocturnal. The plot is pretty absurd. There are no expressionist shadows, but José Ferrer is certainly in the tradition of Dr. Caligari (though Richard Conte, of all people, plays the psychoanalyst). The Fox Noir DVD has an interesting commentary track by Richard Schickel. The Black Book/Reign of Terror (1949, directed by Anthony Mann amidst various late-1940s noirs and before his 1950s westerns, 3.4 stars): The first part has a very noir look, lensed by the great master John Alton with his trademark high-angle shots and menacing shadows. (Closeups so tight as to distort the faces was a Mann/Alton trademark, too.) It portrays Maxmillian ("Don't call me Max!") Robespierre (Richard Basehart) as a fastidious gangster in an 18th-century powdered wig. Unlike noirs, the movie has a charming hero (Robert Cummings trying to be serious and save France from dictatorship) aided by a heroine who is no femme fatale (Arlene Dahl). The thriller plot drags a bit and I find it hard to credit "Love That Bob" Cummings in his role of savior. Basehart, on the other hand, was a very convincing savvy villain (as in "He Walked By Night") and Arnold Moss's Fouché was as slimy an opportunist as can be found in noirs or costume dramas. The Court Jester (1956, directed by Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 3.8 stars) has a reputation for being hilarious. Some of it is, but I didn't know that it was a musical, involving Danny Kaye singing way too much and fencing for too long with Basil Rathbone. Angela Lansbury does not sing, but is entertaining in it. The Siberian Lady Macbeth (1961, directed by Andrej Wajda) is inferior to the 1992 operatic version directed by Peter Wiegl, but has very impressive black-and-white visual compositions. Sanjuro (1962) directed by Akira Kurosawa, 5 stars) is my favorite Kurosawa movie, my favorite samurai movie, improving upon "Yojimbo," the previous Kurosawa/Mifune movie. Antoine and Colette (1962, directed by François Truffaut, 4 stars) from the international compilation "Love at 20" is mildly charming. Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke (Samurai Spy, 1965, directed by Shinoda Masahiro , 4 stars) has a very, very complicated plot that becomes almost comprehensible once it is over. The cinematography by Kosugi Masao and musical score by Takemitsu Toru are outstanding, and Takahashi Koji is a stalwart hero in a mire of double-crosses that make noirs seem blanc in comparison. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970, directed by Sam Peckinpah, 4.2 stars) is a genial romantic comedy set (as are so many westerns) as the "old west" was ending. Genial romantic comedies—indeed, geniality—is not associated with Sam Peckinpah. What is, violence, is all but missing from this movie in which Jason Robards, David Warner, and Stella Stevens all excel, shot (with more than a few double exposures by Lucien Ballard. Darling Lili (1970, directed by Blake Edwards, 3.6 stars) was a commercial failure that is considerably better than its reputation with Julie Andrews as a German spy who entertains the British troops, Rock Hudson as World War I flying ace. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973, directed by Sam Peckinpah, 4.5 stars). I've seen three different versions and like them all. It has great performances by James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson in the title roles, Bob Dylan as a knife-throwing observer. His "Knocking on Heaven's Door" underlies a heart-breaking scene with Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado. Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle [Every Man for Himself and God Against All] released in English as "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" (1974, produced, written, and directed by Werner Herzog, 4 stars) is a movie I was in no hurry to see. I'm not very interested in the subject of feral children (though Kaspar Hauser was not longer a child when he was dumped into the town square of Nuremberg in 1821, and Bruno S., who plays the role in the movie was 41 at the time) and disliked Herzog's "Strozzek" with Bruno S. As usual, Herzog's DVD commentary track, which explains some of his intentions, is very interesting. It does not solve or even hypothesize about why Hauser was kept locked in dark room, why he was taken out of lifelong captivity, or who first tried to murder him and who murdered him. The cinematography of Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein is excellent, and Bruno S. is compelling as Kaspar Hauser, particularly in the scenes in which an offbeat native wit leads to statements confounding authorities (Lutheran ministers, a savant testing his "reasoning powers," and a failed physics lesson from his benign protector played by Walter Ladengast). The music includes such overused pieces as Albinoni's Adagio, Pachelbel's Canon, and (at the end) an aria of Tamino's from "Die Zauberflöte"). Based on a well-documented case, the story and character are not as contrived as Chance's in "Being There." In Celebration (1975, directed by Lindsay Anderson from David Storey's screenplay of his play, 3 stars) strikes me as a fairly formulaic drama about family secrets and long-suppressed recriminations with an out-of-control Alan Bates. Bill Owen and Constance Chapman are very good as the parents whose 40th anniversary fête occurs between the first and second act with needling before, probing after. Fidelio (1991, directed by Derek Bailey, 4.6 stars) is vocally outstanding in a record of the 1990-91 Covent Garden produciton of Beethoven's great (and only) opera. As is often the case, big voices come form big bodies, which does not fit (particularly) the supposedly starved Florestan. Noises Off (1992, directed by Peter Bogdanovich from Michael Frayn's farce about staging a farce, 3.6 stars) takes a while to getting going (in Des Moines), but gets funnier (in Miami Beach and Cleveland). Michael Caine is excellent. Christopher Reeve and John Ritter play unusual characters. Hatachi no binetsu (A Touch of Fever/ Slight Fever of a 20-Year-Old, 1993, directed by Hashiguchi Ryosuke, 2.3 stars) is a visually static portrait of two young Japanese hustlers, the gal pals of each, and the infatuation of one (Endô Masashi as Shin, the more feminine, less successful prostitute) for the other (the affectless Hakamada Yoshihiko as Tatsuro, the more successful prostitute). It is filmed in long static shots (nearly as long and static as in Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming-Liang movies). Hashiguchi's (2001) "Hush" is a much, much better film of somewhat similar materials involving anomic young Japanese gay males and their female admirers. (I don't remember it being as visually static, and "Hush" has characters I remember better after more than a year than I did "Fever's a day after watching it.) Nagisa no Shindobaddo (Like Grains of Sand, 1995, directed by Hashiguchi Ryosuke, 3.2 stars) is a far-too-long (129 minutes) melodrama about Japanese high school students falling painfully in unrequited love. Like Hashiguchi's (1993) "Touch of Fever" the movie, the scenes, and the shots are overly long with lots of pointless "dialogue" (if one can use that for talking past auditors) and attractive semi-clad adolescent Japanese males on languid display. (In "Fever" the youths simulated sex. In "Grains" there is a kiss, but mostly medium shots of looks of longing.) Before Sunrise (1995, written & directed by Richard Linklater, 3.3 stars). The first of the Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy talkfests, this one taking place across Vienna. My favorite part is the street poet incorporating "milkshake" in a poem for the couple du jour. Das Trio (1998, directed by Hermine Huntgeburth, 2 stars) German transvestite/pickpocket yawner with father and daughter smitten by the same pathological liar (Felix Eitner). The Last Stop (2000, directed by Mark Malone, 3.3 stars) is a thriller with one or more murderers and one or more back robbers snowed in with adorable highway-patrolman Adam Beach. A bit of "The Petrified Forest," a bit of " and more than a bit of "The Shining" plus Sgt. Chee further north. Interesting mix of music, and astoundingly underdressed people in a blizzard! Une affaire de gout (A Matter of Taste, 2000, adapted and directed by Bernard Rapp, 3.1 stars) is a tale of vampirism, soul loss, and justifiable homicide, with Jean-Pierre Lorit (Alice et Martin) easily manipulated into a high-flying liferic Delamont (Bernard Giraudeau). And Jean-Pierre Léaud appears as a magistrate! Far from "400 Blows"... It would have b´aud's magistrate). Ararat (2002, directed by Atom Egoyam, 4.2 stars). The movie within the movie—the historical drama being directed by Charles Azavanour about the Armenia genocide—is stronger than the frame with Christopher Plummer on his last day as a Toronto customs officer, but the postmodernist juxtaposition is at the very least interesting. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002, directed by George Clooney from an adaptation by Charles Kaufman, 2.6 stars) doesn't work for me as sex comedy, spy comedy, or horndog memoir. Blind Shaft (2003, directed by Li Yang, 4.4 stars) shows some chillingly bad characters on the frontier of capitalism in the PRC (coal mines in which safety regulations are flouted). It has good performances. Confusing at first, it becomes clear (and even more horrifying!) what the two older men are up to. Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2003, directed by Judy Irving, 4 stars) is a little too charming a documentary about parrots that are established (reproducing) on San Francisco's Telegraph Hill and a squatter who became enraptured by them, observed them closely, and wrote a book as well as appearing in the movie—and marrying the film-maker. I am less charmed by him that she was. And, for that matter, less charmed by the non-native birds than either of them is. Walk On Water (2004), directed by Eytan Fox, 4.3 stars). This Israeli thriller preceded "Munich" in examining the psychic costs of being an avenger (hit man). Million Dollar Baby (2004, directed by Clint Eastwood, 4 stars) has great and rightly honored performances. Like other movies directed by Eastwood, the pace drags. Based on W. Somerset Maugham's 1937 novel Theatre, Being Julia (2004, adapted by Ronald Harwood [The Dresser] , directed by Istvan Szabo [Mephisto, Sunshine], 3.6 stars) is an old-fashioned star vehicle, showcasing Annette Benning as an aging star of the West End stage during the late-1930s who falls in love with a not particularly worthy young American. The supporting cast, which includes Jeremy Irons as her husband and the theater's impresario, Juliet Stevenson as her dresser, Rosemary Harris as her mother, Rita Tushingham as an aunt, and Tom Sturridge as her savvy and loving son, is excellent. Although the soap flows for nearly an hour and a half, it is set-up for a triumph of hilarity or a hilarious triumph of cunning over youth(fulness). Alexander (2004, directed by Oliver Stone, 3.3 stars) seemed better to me than I expected from its bad press, and not as heterosexualized as some have complained (especially not in comparison with that in "Troy"). Not that it's good, either, but it has some striking visual compositions. The music is overbearing (as is Angelina Jolie). The battle scenes are not particularly good (the last one is the best), and the oedipal soap is thick. Portraying a human Alexander is a difficult challenge for writers and actors. Colin Farrell rises to some, but only some. He's a more convincing warrior than Richard Burton but less charismatic. I thought Jared Leto made an excellent Hephaistion, but regretted Anthony Hopkins narration, which did not fit well with Alexander's flashbacks to Macedonia. Ma Mère (2004, directed by Christophe Honoré, 2.8 stars) is uninvolving and not very coherent, though spiced by Isabel Huppert as a corrupt Jocasta and vigorous masturbation by the Oedipus of Louis Garrel (as in "The Dreamers"), playing her confused son. I don't know whether Georges Bataille is unfilmable or too pre-sexual revolution to have the impact he sought. De-Lovely (2004, directed by Irwin Winkler, 2.8 stars) is an improvement on the earlier biopic "Night and Day," but is still quite distorted in making Linda Porter (Ashley Judd) the beloved in all the love songs and moving her into the house of song-writer Cole Porter (Kevin Kline). Not to mention her transformation from his senior to a woman much his junior, and the occlusion of her love affairs. The movie has a lot of Cole Porter songs, impressive costume design, but little pizzazz—or rhythm. And the angel Gabriel ( (Jonathan Pryce) reviewing (revueing) his life as a stage musical??? La Marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins, 2005, directed by Luc Jacquet, 4.4 stars) more than a little anthropomorphic, but still stunningly photographed under extreme conditions. A 40-minute bonus feature about making the movie is in some ways even better than the feature film with Morgan Freeman intoning an over-written narration. (The distance from sea to breeding ground is 60 miles in the "making of" documentary, 70 miles in the movie narration, one instance of gilding the lily.) Crash (2005 written and directed by Paul Haggis, 3.3 stars) is too contrived with too many characters and too many coincidences, and is very bleak about interracial and intercultural communication in the city of angels. Still, it has some powerful sequences and fine performances by an ensemble in which Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Don Cheadle, Loretta Devine, Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard, Michael Peña, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate are especially notable. (Sandra Bullock and Brendan Fraser are also present, but their roles are strongly suggestive of racial self-hatred on Haggis's part.)

Read all comments (7)|Write your own comment

Write an essay on this topic.