2005:
Prepare a list of what you watch
Before you sign away the deed
'Cause it's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
[v] = Seen on DVD.
001. (08 Jan) The
Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004, Niels Mueller) ***
[Overdone, but never less than compelling. As J.Ro might
say, this is one of increasingly few American films with a sense of class resentment
and a feel for our society's neglected underbelly, condescendingly rubbed from
time to time, but ultimately pumped full of broken dreams to the point of explosion.]
002. (09 Jan) /Kill
Bill, Vol. 1/ (2003, Quentin Tarantino) ****1/2
[Still a nearly unparalleled visceral experience, except
this time I regrettably knew there was no payoff coming.]
003. (09 Jan) /Kill
Bill, Vol. 2/ (2004, Quentin Tarantino) ***1/2
[I feel the same way I did after my first viewing, though
now I'm convinced Tarantino made the correct decision with the split. It's total
sensory overkill watching these two volumes back to back, and the one-two punch
makes their hollowness ring collectively louder.]
004. (12 Jan) Hitch
(2005, Andy Tennant) *
[A rancid worldview that predictably treats love and romance
as a commodity -- no price ever too high -- while steadfastly refusing to acknowledge
impossibilities or insurmountable disappointments. Considered going even lower,
but everyone involved with making the film seems so fucking guileless that it's
hard to detest. The first half of Eva Mendes's performance is already
a strong contender for Worst Acting of the Year.]
005. (13 Jan) Days
of Being Wild (1991, Wong Kar-Wai) *1/2
[I count three notable sequences: (1) An Asian dude watching
an Asian chick saunter through the rain; (2) An Asian dude ambling down some country
road in slow motion; (3) The rooftop chase. Otherwise, I stopped paying attention
early on -- couldn't even tell you exactly what happens. Doesn't help that wkw
has already made superior versions of this thing.]
006. (15 Jan) Elektra
(2005, Rob Bowman) *
[Guess I can no longer deny Garner has chosen the Subjugated
Movie Star path rather than actually push her considerable talent into another
medium. What a waste, especially in such self-serious drivel. Hey Bowman, you're
making a stupid, lowbrow action flick, not Dickens.]
W/O.
(15 Jan) Heaven's Gate (1980, Michael Cimino) [original
cut]
007. (16 Jan) /Punch-Drunk
Love/ (2002, Paul Thomas Anderson) [v] *****
008. (16 Jan) Lemony
Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004, Brad Silberling) *1/2
009. (17 Jan) Spanglish
(2004, James L. Brooks) *
010. (22 Jan) In
the Realms of the Unreal (2004, Jessica Yu) *
011. (29 Jan) Assault
on Precinct 13 (2005, Jean-François Richet) *
012. (30 Jan) /The
Thing/ (1982, John Carpenter) *** [first
viewing: at least ****]
013. (05 Feb) Born
Into Brothels (2004, Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman) **1/2
014. (05 Feb) The
Wild One (1953, Laslo Benedek) *1/2
015. (06 Feb) Hotel
Rwanda (2004, Terry George) *1/2
016. (06 Feb) A
Star is Born (1954, George Cukor) ****
017. (12 Feb) Inside
Deep Throat (2005, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato) ***
018. (12 Feb) Head-On
(2005, Fatih Akin) ***1/2
019. (13 Feb) Infernal
Affairs (2004, Andrew Lau, Alan Mak) *1/2
020. (16 Feb) Man
of the House (2005, Stephen Herek) **
[Tommy Lee Jones's performance -- a combination of somber dignity
and clownish bemusement -- is remarkably awesome (imagine if Samuel Gerard had
to protect five randy cheerleaders instead of chasing Richard Kimble). Premium
crude comedy when the crime crap isn't rearing its useless head.]
021. (19 Feb) Ong-bak
(2005, Prachya Pinkaew) *1/2
[Jackie Chan could kick the shit out of this unimaginative guy.
You need more than four moves if you're going to star in a movie about nothing
other than your battle skills, and it certainly doesn't help that almost every
fight scene is placed in a drab setting (rings suck) with little opportunity for
dynamism (an exception is the droll street chase). As I find is increasingly the
case these days, endless violence soon gets offensively oppressive.]
022. (19 Feb) Imaginary
Heroes (2004, Dan Harris) ***
[Not schizophrenic so much as jagged, this anti-tragedy film of
sorts (which is to say people seem no more miserable after the central tragedy
than they surely were before it) offers a paradoxical take on familial malaise:
an odd mess of preciousness whose affectation starts affecting. Often an assembly
of small, should-be trite exchanges that are lent awkward weight by discomforting
comedy and well-placed surrealism (e.g. the snowbound magic where Bright Eyes
croons "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"), Harris knows little
of restraint. He piles on dramatic incidence too high and has trouble with character
consistency, but this kitchen sink tumult marks an attitude: ambivalence manifested
as randomness.]
023. (20 Feb) Constantine
(2005, Francis Lawrence) *1/2
024. (20 Feb) /Carlito's
Way/ (1993, Brian De Palma) ****
025. (21 Feb) Hide
and Seek (2005, John Polson) **1/2
[Yes, the revelatory last act (featuring ending du jour; there
is a thesis to be written about when and why this kind of conclusion first took
hold of the zeitgeist) is nonsensical and idiotic (which partly accounts for critics'
dire underrating), even if it does fasten the hushed first hour's theme: grotesquerie
of parents as filtered through a child's eyes. I've never understood why the monumentally
talented Dakota Fanning inspires such rancor in some (I'm guessing it's because
adults pine for innocence and don't want to acknowledge that many little girls
really are that precocious, though it could also be sexual guilt),
but even Fanning's detractors have to admit her unnerving self-possession is put
to superior, haunting use here. Polson knows how to direct a mournful thriller,
gradually letting the psychological loss seep into the barrenness of a sad New
England winter (or is it late fall?), while this dusky environment seems to smother
its inhabitants. Excellent first hour (featuring taciturn De Niro in a return
to form) shouldn't be missed; could've been a classic if it wasn't all buildup.]
026. (02 Mar) Guess
Who (2005, Kevin Rodney Sullivan) *** [projected
digibeta of a work print]
027. (05 Mar) Be
Cool (2005, F. Gary Gray) 1/2
028. (06 Mar) The
Goonies (1985, Richard Donner) *
029. (12 Mar) Hostage
(2005, Florent Siri) **1/2
030. (13 Mar) Gunner
Palace (2005, Michael Tucker, Petra Epperlein) **1/2
031. (14 Mar) Kung
Fu Hustle (2005, Stephen Chow) *1/2
032. (19 Mar) Don't
Move (2005, Sergio Castellitto) *1/2
033. (19 Mar) The
Upside of Anger (2005, Mike Binder) ****
034. (20 Mar) The
Jacket (2005, John Maybury) *
035. (25 Mar) Melinda
and Melinda (2005, Woody Allen) **1/2
036. (25 Mar) /Klute/
(1971, Alan J. Pakula) ***1/2
037. (25 Mar) Cruising
(1980, William Friedkin) ***
038. (26 Mar) Off
the Map (2005, Campbell Scott) **1/2
039. (27 Mar) The
Best of Youth, Part 1 (2005, Marco Tullio Giordana) *1/2
040. (02 Apr) Oldboy
(2005, Chan-wook Park) **
041. (02 Apr) Love
and Death (1975, Woody Allen) *1/2
042. (03 Apr) Sin
City (2005, Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez) **
043. (03 Apr) Point
Blank (1967, John Boorman) *
044. (09 Apr) Charley
Varrick (1973, Don Siegel) [v] ***
045. (10 Apr) Possessed
(1947, Curtis Bernhardt) **
s01. (10 Apr) American
Dad (2005, ?)
046. (10 Apr) Fever
Pitch (2005, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly) ***
047. (11 Apr) The
Ring Two (2005, Hideo Nakata) ***
048. (15 Apr) Summer
with Monika (1956, Ingmar Bergman) *1/2
049. (16 Apr) Palindromes
(2005, Todd Solondz) *1/2
050. (17 Apr) /Melvin
and Howard/ (1980, Jonathan Demme) ***
051. (17 Apr) Return
of the Secaucus 7 (1980, John Sayles) **1/2
052. (23 Apr) The
Interpreter (2005, Sydney Pollack) **1/2
053. (23 Apr) Funny
Ha Ha (2005, Andrew Bujalski) [v] **
054. (24 Apr) Scarface
(1932, Howard Hawks) *1/2
055. (30 Apr) Enron:
The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005, Alex Gibney) ***
056. (01 May) 3-iron
(2005, Kim Ki-duk) *
057. (07 May) Dallas
362 (2005, Scott Caan) ****
058. (07 May) Los
Angeles Plays Itself (2004, Thom Andersen) *
[Andersen's one of the most miserable and unbelievably myopic bastards
to come down the documentary pike in a long while, filled with nothing so much
as three hours of absurd bile for cinema's alleged betrayal of his precious hometown
(you name the classic and it's speciously shit upon here). Dear Andersen: Sit
down, have a drink, remove that hulking metal rod from your ass, masturbate to
your sweeping city vista, and chill the fuck out dude. There's a lot
more important things going on in movies than characters mispronouncing the names
of bridges.]
059. (09 May) /Before
Sunset/ (2004, Richard Linklater) [v] *****
060. (10 May) A
Lot Like Love (2005, Nigel Cole) **
061. (11 May) Crash
(2005, Paul Haggis) 1/2
[Among the most schematic and simpleminded visions of racial discord
ever put on film, stone blind to the intricacies of intolerance or the way disgust
builds and breeds more often than explodes. Haggis has no patience for escalation:
he starts Crash at Level 12 and only amps it up from there, gang-banging
coincidence, contrivance and thirty-four diluted storylines into a shimmery puddle
of piss. Nary a scene goes by in which marionettes aren't instantly screaming
out of the blue epithets at each other merely because Haggis has no real sense
of how people struggle to communicate through barriers (or more importantly, the
fact that sometimes these boundaries are nonexistent). Tackling Grand Issues with
such manipulative bombast probably does more harm than good -- this is a facile
treatise, not a narrative.]
062. (14 May) A
Man Escaped (1956, Robert Bresson) *
063. (15 May) Layer
Cake (2005, Matthew Vaughn) **
064. (16 May) The
Holy Girl (2005, Lucrecia Martel) *
065. (22 May) Happily
Ever After (2005, Yvan Attal) **1/2
066. (28 May) Mysterious
Skin (2005, Gregg Araki) *1/2
067. (29 May) Brothers
(2005, Susanne Bier) ***1/2
068. (30 May) Star
Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005, George Lucas) 1/2
[This country is doomed.]
069. (31 May) Genesis
(2005, Claude Nuridsany, Marie Pérennou) *
070. (04 Jun) /Band
of Outsiders/ (1964, Jean-Luc Godard) *1/2
[last
viewing: ~***1/2]
071. (04 Jun) Masculine-Feminine
(1966, Jean-Luc Godard) *
072. (05 Jun) Lords
of Dogtown (2005, Catherine Hardwicke) ****
073. (11 Jun) Chrystal
(2005, Ray McKinnon) **
074. (12 Jun) The
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005, Ken Kwapis) *1/2
075. (13 Jun) Mr.
& Mrs. Smith (2005, Doug Liman) no stars
[Where is a society headed when its citizens burst into applause
as Brad Pitt repeatedly kicks Angelina Jolie in the stomach?]
s02. (14 Jun) Geoff,
World Destroyer (2002, Phil Hall)
[A rare short actually worth
your time.]
076. (14 Jun) East
of Eden (1955, Elia Kazan) **
077. (15 Jun) Batman
Begins (2005, Christopher Nolan) *
[Remember when Owen wrote: "Somewhere in the middle of Woody
Allen's Hollywood Ending, I watched Woody giving the same neurotic-shnook
performance as the ''Woody Allen character'' that he has given for close to 35
years, and I realized, sad as it is to say, that I would be perfectly happy if
I never saw him give that performance again." Well, somewhere in the middle
of Christopher Nolan's abysmal Batman Begins -- or rather, somewhere
in the opening twenty minutes -- I watched Hollywood vomiting out the same noxious
action film bullshit that the town has produced since the George Lucas Plague
arrived, and I realized, sad as it is to say, that I would be perfectly happy
if I never, ever, ever, ever saw that fucking film -- or anything remotely
like it -- again.]
078. (17 Jun) My
Summer of Love (2005, Pawel Pawlikowski) ****
079. (18 Jun) Heights
(2005, Chris Terrio) *1/2
080. (19 Jun) Pure
(2005, Gillies MacKinnon) **1/2
081. (26 Jun) Land
of the Dead (2005, George A. Romero) **
082. (30 Jun) Me
and You and Everyone We Know (2005, Miranda July) ***1/2
083. (02 Jul) The
Last Mogul (2005, Barry Avrich) **
084. (03 Jul) The
Longest Yard (2005, Peter Segal) *
085. (03 Jul) The
Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005, Jacques Audiard) ***
086. (04 Jul) Bewitched
(2005, Nora Ephron) *1/2
087. (09 Jul) The
Talent Given Us (2005, Andrew Wagner) **
088. (10 Jul) Ride
the High Country (1962, Sam Peckinpah) *
089. (16 Jul) March
of the Penguins (2005, Luc Jacquet) *1/2
090. (16 Jul) Crónicas
(2005, Sebastián Cordero) *
091. (16 Jul) Dark
Water (2005, Walter Salles) ***
[2005: The year of surprisingly good studio horror films with nonsensical
third acts about single, possibly deranged parents struggling to raise their young
children -- parenthood as the ultimate, untenable nightmare! This gorgeously crafted
entry is even better than Hide and Seek and The Ring Two; as
of now, Connelly's towering performance deserves to be remembered come Oscar time.]
092. (17 Jul) /Petulia/
(1968, Richard Lester) *****
093. (17 Jul) Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory (2005, Tim Burton) **
094. (23 Jul) Murderball
(2005, Henry Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro) ***
095. (23 Jul) The
Fisher King (1991, Terry Gilliam) *1/2
s03. (27 Jul) Le
Cheval 2.1 (2004, Stephen Scott-Hayward, Alex
Kirkland)
096. (27 Jul) Tropical
Malady (2005, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) *
097. (28 Jul) Minnie
and Moskowitz (1971, John Cassavetes) **
098. (30 Jul) Last
Days (2005, Gus Van Sant) *1/2
099. (31 Jul) Kiss
Me Deadly (1955, Robert Aldrich) *1/2
100. (05 Aug) Junebug
(2005, Phil Morrison) **
101. (06 Aug) War
of the Worlds (2005, Steven Spielberg) ***
102. (06 Aug) Hustle
& Flow (2005, Craig Brewer) ***
103. (07 Aug) The
Devil's Rejects (2005, Rob Zombie) **1/2
104. (13 Aug) Broken
Flowers (2005, Jim Jarmusch) **
105. (14 Aug) Bad
News Bears (2005, Richard Linklater) *
106. (14 Aug) Pretty
Persuasion (2005, Marcos Siega) *
[Even though I'm acquainted with screenwriter Skander Halim, and
I find him an insufferable asshole, I went into Pretty Persuasion willing
to cut the fucker some slack due to our mutual affection for Evan Rachel Wood.
Two hours in the presence of this worthless film and my charity has long vanished.
Pretty Persuasion is just the sort of callow bullshit I'd expect from
a self-satisfied idiot like Skander: a limp dick "satire" (I know this
because in one scene the definition of "satire" is helpfully scrawled
on a chalkboard) pitched at the frat house crowd, drunkenly trampling well-trod
ground, firing at will, and still managing to miss all its barrelled
fish. Skander is the facile writer content to ram painfully unfunny one-liners
up the ass of his pro forma Societal Ails List (school shootings, fame, racism,
corrupt media, frivolous lawsuits, etc.), mistaking quantity and shock value for
actually having anything intelligible to say. It's a film as pathetically bitter
and myopic as Skander himself, and yet even I didn't count on the mangled plotting,
the hammy gallery of caricatures, the elephantine mishmash of tones, or the sheer
inhumanity. Only ERW, remarkable as usual, keeps Pretty Persuasion watchable.
But just barely.]
s04. (17 Aug) How
To Tell When a Relationship is Over in 90 Seconds (2003, Tony Roche)
107. (17 Aug) 2046
(2005, Wong Kar-Wai) *1/2
108. (20 Aug) Grizzly
Man (2005, Werner Herzog) ***1/2
109. (21 Aug) Sky
High (2005, Mike Mitchell) *
110. (23 Aug) Red
Eye (2005, Wes Craven) **
111. (27 Aug) The
World (2005, Jia Zhangke) *1/2
112. (27 Aug) The
Skeleton Key (2005, Iain Softley) *
113. (28 Aug) Normal
Life (1996, John McNaughton) [v] *1/2
114. (03 Sep) The
Constant Gardener (2005, Fernando Meirelles) *
115. (04 Sep) /Fast
Times at Ridgemont High/ (1982, Amy Heckerling) *1/2
W/O.
(04 Sep) Valley Girl (1983, Martha Coolidge)
[Like trying to stare into the sun.]
116. (04 Sep) /Mikey
and Nicky/ (1976, Elaine May) [v] *****
117. (05 Sep) Wedding
Crashers (2005, David Dobkin) *1/2
118. (10 Sep) The
40-Year-Old Virgin (2005, Judd Apatow) **1/2
119. (11 Sep) Pat
Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973, Sam Peckinpah) [extended cut] *
120. (18 Sep) The
Warriors (1979, Walter Hill) *
121. (20 Sep) Keane
(2005, Lodge Kerrigan) ****
122. (22 Sep) The
Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005, Scott Derrickson) **
123. (24 Sep) The
Laughing Policeman (1973, Stuart Rosenberg) [v] ***
124. (25 Sep) Lord
of War (2005, Andrew Niccol) 1/2
125. (02 Oct) Flightplan
(2005, Robert Schwentke) no stars
126. (03 Oct) Duma
(2005, Carroll Ballard) **
127. (04 Oct) A
History of Violence (2005, David Cronenberg) *1/2
128. (08 Oct) Two
for the Money (2005, D.J. Caruso) *1/2
129. (09 Oct) Tim
Burton's Corpse Bride (2005, Tim Burton, Mike Johnson) *1/2
130. (09 Oct) Good
Night, and Good Luck. (2005, George Clooney) ***
131. (13 Oct) Play
It As It Lays (1972, Frank Perry) **1/2
132. (15 Oct) Elizabethtown
(2005, Cameron Crowe) **1/2
133. (15 Oct) The
Squid and the Whale (2005, Noah Baumbach) ***1/2
134. (16 Oct) Nine
Lives (2005, Rodrigo García) ****
135. (19 Oct) The
Panic in Needle Park (1971, Jerry Schatzberg) **1/2
[An antidote for anyone who found Requiem for a Dream's
blazing pyrotechnics false (note: not me), this naturalistic and unrelentingly
grim film treats heroin like the dreary opiate it is. Schatzberg studies junkies
trapped by their surroundings, training his photographer's eye on the destructive
romance that seems to fuel most drug narratives (and drug use?), exposing it as
self-regard rather than love. While deserving credit for its honesty, Panic
doesn't transcend the major pitfall of addiction films (and the reason they're
so often tarted up): an addict's life can get unbearably circular (hence the success
of Jesus' Son, with its picaresque structure). Notable to historians
for Pacino's star-making turn, a film this gloomy requires an electric lead actress
every bit his equal, and Kitty Winn isn't quite up to the challenge (though she
won Best Actress at Cannes). Panic strikes me as the necessary warm-up
for Schatzberg's remarkable Scarecrow, another Pacino-headlined story
of aimless souls soldiering along America's fringes.]
136. (23 Oct) Proof
(2005, John Madden) ***1/2
[...that not even staginess can overcome superior writing and a
blistering Gwyneth. Clearly meant for the theater (where I first saw it, with
Jennifer Jason Leigh), but I'm very pleased Gwyneth's take is preserved for future
generations. Now if only I could watch Mary-Louise Parker's version...]
s05. (24 Oct) Todd
and His Pal Polk (2005, Nathaniel Bates) [v]
137. (25 Oct) Z
Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004, Xan Cassavetes) [v] **
138. (26 Oct) In
Her Shoes (2005, Curtis Hanson) 1/2
s06. (27 Oct) Waiting
(2004, Sky Hirschkron) [v]
139. (28 Oct) Stars
in My Crown (1950, Jacques Tourneur) *1/2
140. (29 Oct) The
Weather Man (2005, Gore Verbinski) ***
141. (30 Oct) New
York Doll (2005, Greg Whiteley) **1/2
142. (30 Oct) Overnight
(2004, Tony Montana, Mark Brian Smith) [v] **1/2
143. (31 Oct) North
Country (2005, Niki Caro) **1/2
144. (31 Oct) Kiss
Kiss Bang Bang (2005, Shane Black) **
145. (02 Nov) Guinevere
(1999, Audrey Wells) [v] *1/2
146. (05 Nov) Shopgirl
(2005, Anand Tucker) *
147. (05 Nov) Save
the Tiger (1973, John G. Avildsen) [v] *****
148. (06 Nov) Barry
Lyndon (1975, Stanley Kubrick) *1/2
149. (13 Nov) Jagged
Edge (1985, Richard Marquand) [v] *
150. (13 Nov) Ellie
Parker (2005, Scott Coffey) ***
151. (15 Nov) Capote
(2005, Bennett Miller) ***
152. (22 Nov) Walk
the Line (2005, James Mangold) **
s07. (25 Nov) Tick
Tock (2005, Brandon Lasner) [v]
153. (26 Nov) The
Ice Harvest (2005, Harold Ramis) *
154. (03 Dec) The
African Queen (1951, John Huston) *1/2
155. (05 Dec) Down
to the Bone (2005, Debra Granik) *1/2
156. (11 Dec) Brokeback
Mountain (2005, Ang Lee) **
157. (12 Dec) From
Russia With Love (1963, Terence Young) *
158. (14 Dec) Syriana
(2005, Stephen Gaghan) *
159. (17 Dec) The
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005, Tommy Lee Jones) ***1/2
160. (18 Dec) The
Family Stone (2005, Thomas Bezucha) *
s08. (23 Dec) Are
You the Favorite Person of Anybody? (2005, Miguel Arteta) [v]
s09. (23 Dec) The
Big Empty (2005, J. Lisa Chang, Newton Thomas Sigel) [v]
s10. (23 Dec) Untitled
Al Gore Documentary (2000 [?], Spike Jonze) [v]
[Perhaps the saddest film of my year, a crushing glance at what
might have been. I can't get Brent
Hoff's haunting quote out of my head: "It may seem like a sweet, simple
study of a loving American family, but in our opinion, Jonze's [shelved] short
film could have changed the world."]
161. (23 Dec) Caché
(Hidden) (2005, Michael Haneke) ***1/2
162. (25 Dec) /Night
Moves/ (1975, Arthur Penn) [v] ***
163. (26 Dec) The
New World (2005, Terrence Malick) [initial 150
minute cut] ***
164. (28 Dec) Match
Point (2005, Woody Allen) **1/2
s11. (30 Dec) DysEnchanted
(2004, Terri Edda Miller) [v]
165. (30 Dec) Barcelona
(1994, Whit Stillman) [v] *1/2
166. (30 Dec) Days
of Wine and Roses (1962, Blake Edwards) [v] ***1/2
[Swallows a bit more than it can chew (I've never found cinema
conducive to jumping large periods of time every few scenes), but Blake frames
this realist drama in such operatic terms (acute b&w photography casting long
shadows) that the leaps go down smooth. Blake's expressionism also lends a ghastly
aura, turning Days of Wine and Roses into a horror film of sorts, with
alcohol standing in for (and attempting to guard against) deeper, less visible
tormenters (e.g. the blandness of domesticity; see also: Bigger Than Life).
Obviously this is another notch on Lemmon's One of the Greatest Ever belt, but
it's heartbreaking Lee Remick -- a face too soft and graceful to be ravaged by
booze -- who proved the revelation for me here. Recasting the Silently Suffering
Housewife role, Remick shows she's not just collateral damage -- she's the most
profound casualty of all.]
167. (31 Dec) The
Matador (2005, Richard Shepard) **1/2