Duplex

Another film watched on the transatlantic flight back from Copenhagen. See, it's difficult for someone who watches so much film to have this cool little video unit in your seat, and have watched 98% of the films listed. You end up watching dopey ones you would never pay money for, in the theater or on DVD. I really like Ben Stiller; I think he's one of our best comedic actors (I have a special fondness for Keeping the Faith, albeit for more reasons than that), but he gets involved in some fairly silly projects (Starsky and Hutch, anyone?). Alongside Drew Barrymore the potential for a quality project sinks even lower. You can guess what it's about -- two young yuppie types buy a home in NYC but are terrorized by the sweet old lady upstairs. In the process, they nearly destroy the house. There are funny scenes, e.g., installing the clapper, the raisin / mouse turd (yup, you betcha), but it's just, well, dumb. I would recommend skipping this film and renting the much funnier Tom Hanks / Shelley Long film The Money Pit (or The 'burbs, for that matter).

year: 2003
length: 97 min.
rating: 2.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266489/combined

A Mighty Wind

Christopher Guest, the man behind Spinal Tap and Best in Show, and who played the six-fingered man in the now-classic Princess Bride, has brought us yet another improvisational ensemble film. And it's too bad this one doesn't work as well as Best in Show or Waiting for Guffman because...we want more of these types of films! Or, at least I do. The group he brings together -- Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban, Parker Posey, Eugene Levy -- know the art of deadpan improvisation. For background, they're all supposed to be old-time folk singers, with the Puritan-like character that goes with the territory, and they're staging a concert to commemorate the death of a beloved producer. But the songs they sing are in broad contrast to their lives, e.g.,"A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow", "Old Joe's Place", "Potato's in the Paddy Wagon." And yet, it doesn't have as many clearly funny moments as previous films (although the scene in which Balaban is worrying about the props, lights and flowers for the show is priceless). A decent rental, but I'd re-rent Best in Show instead, if I were you.

year: 2003
length: 91 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310281/combined

Rosemary's Baby

So, I ran right out and rented another horror film. Although this one isn't really horror. More of a suspense thriller. There are points where you expect nasty demons to pop out of the woodwork but that's only because you're a product of your times. In 1968, there wasn't a need to film things like that, particularly when you had the young, talented, still tragedy-free Roman Polanski on the project. Mia Farrow plays a young wife in a beautiful new apartment who just can't wait to get pregnant. She does, but she gradually starts to wonder if there's something all wrong about her conception and the cloying neighbors in her apartment building. The film builds gradually, the same way disbelief grows gradually, with no glitz or glamour, until the final scene which truly is horrific. Do you ever root for the main character! When she "escapes" and tries to find another doctor, you start smiling and release long pent-up breath. Farrow is not my favorite actor, but she works hard here, providing an illusion of a loving wife who can't quite figure out what's gone wrong. Major kudos to Ruth Gordon as the nosy neighbor. (Remember her from Harold and Maude?) Without her, the film would have lost a lot of its spark.

year: 1968
length: 136 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063522/combined

Intolerable Cruelty

In the interest of full disclosure, I watched this film on the plane to Geneva, Switzerland last month. (Yes, yes, this is how far behind I've gotten. It's actually worse than that. I have films back to *gasp* December that I haven't reviewed yet.) I'm sure this film was cut for the plane ride, but I have doubts that more of what I saw would have made it a better experience for me. Although my viewing of the film was almost definitely also colored by the woman next to me upchucking not once but three times (count 'em, three times) during the flight. So! While the impossibly handsome George Clooney and the scrumptiously voluptuous Catherine Zeta-Jones are, naturally, fun to watch there's little in the plot of this film that's appealing. Hard to believe it's a Coen brothers flick. Meant to be a comedy it follows the "travails" of Zeta-Jones and her lawyer, Clooney, in extricating her from the bonds of holy matrimony. Clooney, of course, is against marriage, while Zeta-Jones is all for it, but for the wrong reasons. In the long run, the film gives us no one to root for, and the conclusion is ridiculous, to put it mildly. The best part of the film is the beginning in which Geoffrey Rush, of all people, gets to show flamboyant acting chops while getting cuckolded.

year: 2003
length: 100 min.
rating: 2.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138524/combined

Girl With a Pearl Earring

This so rarely happens -- I like a film better because I originally read the book. Usually, I'm disappointed in a director's vision because I had my own vision while reading. (Lord of the Rings is another exception to the rule.) In this case, I enjoyed the film better because someone (read: art director) cared enough to make every scene look like a Vermeer painting. And since one of the intents of the book is to enhance your appreciation of Vermeer's masterpieces, this is manifested as subtext in the film. I found nearly every image breath-taking, and I don't have qualms with the story -- a young Dutch maid secretly becomes a model for a famous artist -- as some seem to. Since it mirrors Tracy Chevalier's novel, perhaps it's the book people should take issue with. Scarlett Johansson is perfect. When she finally turns her head to the camera with the pearl in her ear and the blue and yellow wraps on her head, you think "how lucky were they, finding an actress who can do subtle and who looks the part?" Colin Firth is better here than in recent films, if only because he gets a chance to use those chaste smoldering glances he became famous for in Pride and Prejudice. And, in one of my more surreal movie-going moments, I watched 28 Days Later... several hours after seeing this film. Yes, that is Cillian Murphy in both films (starring in the former, while only window-dressing in the latter), and I never even noticed until the rolling credits. But, that's a review for another day...

year: 2003
length: 95 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/combined

The Last Samurai

Sometimes films come along that fall between my ratings categories. In this case, my inkling is to give the film a 3.25. It's certainly slickly produced and very well acted, with scenes that alternate between deeply moving and thrilling. This is usually good enough to merit a 3.5 in my book, however, it falls short of a true 3.5 by not giving us enough to hang the scenes on. There's an interesting story line -- Tom Cruise plays a deadbeat American Army officer hired by the Japanese to train their troops to fight the samurai, but is captured by the samurai and learns their way of life -- and while it's affecting on several levels (the destruction of the samurai, how a foreigner views a radically different culture) it seems to have been made to showcase some brilliant battle scenes. The best way to describe this is that the film has no soul, and for a film about the samurai way of life, with its philosophy of honor, that's a grave error. I was impressed, as many were, by Ken Watanabe who brilliantly understates his role as the samurai leader, and it's possible that this rubbed off on Cruise, not known for understating anything. Here he did a good job of not making his character a passionate convert, which would never have fit with the cynical, bitter man who first came to Japan. So, I give the film the higher mark if only to recommend it to those interested in the subject matter who might otherwise discount it.

year: 2003
length: 154 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325710/combined

Upstairs, Downstairs

I can safely assume that the rest of this series will be as promising as the part that I've seen to date (almost half). Granted, there is one major character change which seems hastily arranged but, in toto, this is one of the more thoroughly enjoyable BBC series ever produced (and yes, The Forsyte Saga takes a second seat to this one). Set in Victorian England, it is the story of the gentry, their downstairs servants, and how their lives intertwine and remain separate at the same time. If nothing else, you learn the mores and ideas of the time (e.g., feminism, divorce, that pesky merchant class). For instance, in one episode the lady of the house must let a servant go who is too old to perform her duties anymore. How she told her was something I'll always remember. Even though the language of that time may sound like everyone is walking on eggshells all the time, there are take-away lessons for our times. In this case, the lesson is that there is always a kind way to do a normally repulsive task. The acting is uniformly perfect, with everyone inhabiting their characters to a T. In fact, I saw Gordon Jackson in another production at some point and found him not at all believable, not due to his acting skills but to the fact that he was the butler on this series, and in my mind, will always be the butler.

year: 1971-1975
length: 68 50-min. episodes
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066722/combined

Freaky Friday

Like, y'know, like, this is so word, dude. (OK, that's my lame attempt at invoking the flavor of this film.) Since it's a remake of the 1976 film starring Jodie Foster, it involves a mother and daughter switching bodies, but that's about all it has in common with the original. This one is updated for this day and age, and not just because it has Lindsay Lohan in it (new teen sensation!) but because instead of the mom being a homemaker, this mom is a psychiatrist. Instead of braces ruining your life, you wear the wrong style of shirt to school. Instead of the dad, you have the boyfriend (and a cute one at that -- Mark Harmon). So, it's hip with the times, but better than that Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis rule. Curtis has a blast acting like a teenager, and is brave enough to look old on film. Lohan is a marvel. I'd never seen her in anything before, but, yes, she is very talented. I completely believed her channeling her mom's personality. And that made for a way fun time, so, like, kick back, enjoy, okay?

year: 2003
length: 93 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322330/combined

Kundun

Watching this film reminded me of watching films like Waking Life. While visually and emotionally stunning, the pieces have to work extra hard to make up a whole. Martin Scorsese is yet again in his element, describing a cultural phenomenon in pictures, this time the life story of the Dalai Lama. And with non-actors to boot! The feel you get for life as a Tibetan monk and for the conflict between Tibet and China is unparalleled -- the making-of and tearing-down shots of mandala sand paintings, costumed religious dances, the swearing-in ceremony. Even on a tiny screen, the impact of these scenes is visceral. The "confrontation" between the Dalai Lama and Chairman Mao is almost funny, which sounds sacrilegious (and probably is). But, why do I give it a low-ish rating? Because Scorsese works so hard to present all the facts that you are left a bit adrift in how to put all the facts together. For instance, you understand the Dalai Lama's principle of non-violence, but aren't completely sure how it benefited the people of Tibet. And that's probably my main complaint about the film, that it shows us so much of the life of the Dalai Lama that we lose sight of the life of his beloved people. But, if you're up for a spectacle (although not a spectacular spectacular as in Moulin Rouge), this should not disappoint.

year: 1997
length: 128 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119485/combined

The Triplets of Belleville

Sheesh, I suppose Finding Nemo should have won for Best Animated Film, but only because while this film stuns with its images, it doesn't have a normal run-of-the-mill narrative (essentially the story of a biker stolen from the Tour de France and the grandmother who tries to find him). The same could be said about Hayao Miyazaki's work, though, and his films are beyond amazing. This minor quibble shouldn't keep you away from the film because how often will you see art-deco-ish cruise ships, a slow-mo of a dog barking at a train and its occupants, and the pièce de résistance, how one of the triplets catches frogs. Besides, the film relies nearly solely on its images. There are a few spoken words (French? English? I actually couldn't tell), but other than that everything is telegraphed by action, expressions, Stomp-like music, and whistle-blowing (yes, you'll have to see it to believe it). It is a bit violent, which might mean that you don't let your kids see it...yet. But I guarantee you will laugh out loud at least a few times, if not constantly.

original title: Les Triplettes de Belleville
year: 2003
length: 80 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286244/combined