Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (2005)

Location: Home (DVD)
Seen Before: No
Rating: 4.5

This documentary kept me interested and wanting to know what would unfold next in the story, but the only problem I had was that so much of the terminology and what was being discussed was [sadly] over my head; more of a fault of mine than the filmmakers.

I am certainly aware of the disgusting greed and dealing of the business world, but this film puts a whole new spin on it. Really, it is enough to make you sick and not want to ever look at another dollar bill.

Trainspotting (1996)

Location: University Center 212
Seen Before: Yes
Rating: 5.0

Trainspotting is an explosively wonderful and exciting film. I feel like at a time that was becoming really hammered down with Tarantino rip-offs and Gen-X slackers, this movie came to the US and reminded us what it takes to make an audience laugh and feel horror in a truely original way.
It's a testament to the filmmakers and actors that, in the way that this story is constructed (feeling very much like a novel--rightly so, of course), the film always keeps your attention and never lags.
Every viewing of this is a repeated fresh breath of air.

Mikey & Nicky (1976)

Location: Regent Square Theater
Seen Before: No
Rating: 5.0

I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)

Location: Home (DVD)
Seen Before: No
Rating: 5.0

This recently released DVD peaked my interest with its title, excellent cover design, and--mostly--inclusion in the Controversial Classics box set. At 70-some years old, would I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang resonate as just that--controversial?

I think it does if you can understand both where cinema and America where at the time of its release. Paul Muni's honest performance never creeps into stilted territory like some of the other portrayls of the early to golden Hollywood days. Even when the film fell a little flat in the middle as it tries a bit too hard to establish James's reinvented life and then again at the end where I didn't feel it really wrapped up the story, I was completely interested and continually surprised throughout. But, that ending--how can I really complain? What a brave, shocking conclusion. Maybe it doesn't wrap it all up, but it certainly stops you in your tracks. It's on my list of favorite film conclusions.

Final Destination 3 (2006)

Location: Maxi-Saver
Seen Before: No
Rating: 1.5

The reason this latest installment of the FD series even gets the pleasure of 1.5 stars is the sheer absurdity of the film--and the fact that it has the sense to not take itself seriously for one moment. At least this one is fun to watch with some friends; now The Fog remake, on the other hand...

Lolita (1962)

Location: Home (DVD)
Seen Before: Yes
Rating: 5.0

For my money, Stanley Kubrick has one of (if not the) greatest, most consistently masterpiece-laden track record in film history; those are strong words, but his body of work holds right up to it. Lolita is no exception with its wickedly funny and daring situations, photography on par with the other installments of the director's work, and spellbinding turns by James Mason, Sue Lyon, Shelly Winters, and Peter Sellers. A practically flawless work.

A Simple Plan (1998)

Location: University Center 212
Seen Before: Yes
Rating: 2.5

The first two times I watched this Sam Raimi-directed drama/thriller, I thought it was fine but it really left me feeling uneasy for some reason (not unlike Hudsucker). Watching it this time around, I realized just how stereotypical the characters are, how clumsily the plot is handeled, and how John Steinbeck is tossing in his grave due to the pitiful way in which this film makes a mockery of his wonderful Of Mice and Men in its competely unrealistic final moments. What we have here is the poor-man's Fargo.

Number 17 (1932)

Location: Home (DVD)
Seen Before: No
Rating: 3.0

I'd never heard of this old Hitchcock before and found it interesting if only because of its director. The film itself plays out like a play (rightly so, I suppose, as it is based on one) but is fascinating due to the little Hitchcock touches that are evident throughout--dark humour, inventive cinematography, and clever ways of building tension. The back of the dvd box says "You won't want to miss the classic train sequence..." which is somewhat misleading as it is more odd than suspenseful--models are extensively used for it. Probably for die-hard Hitch fans only.

Goodfellas (1990)

Location: Home (DVD)
Seen Before: Yes
Rating: 5.0

I have an almost prejudice against this film as it seems to have really climbed in popularity in terms of people ranking it almost obscenely high on lists of the best films ever made. In fact, a British magazine a few months back declared it the greatest film of all time--a bit much in my opinion. But, after not seeing it for quite some time, this viewing really opened my eyes a bit more to just how much of a tour-de-force and amazing cinematic achievement it truely is. That other mob movie (The Godfather, naturally) really seems to be the only great predecessor to this famous Scorcese work--in between these two pictures I can't recall anything great in terms of a gangster flick. The wonderful thing about that, as well, is that these two films, while both involving gangsters, couldn't be more different! The violence in this is so real, scary, and off-putting that it tends to keep me away for a while after a viewing, but what a film it is.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Location: University Center 212
Seen Before: Yes
Rating: 3.5

I wasn't too thrilled to have to watch this again since I just did a couple of weeks ago; my feelings are the same as they were then.

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

Location: Home (DVD)
Seen Before: No
Rating: 3.0

Am I again guilty of building a film up, only to be dissapointed with the outcome having watched it?

No, I don't think so. I think John Ford does an okay job by way of Young Mr. Lincoln, but hasn't produced anything outstanding. The way he and the screenwriter structure their story is really problematic for me; the first third (or act, really) of the film tries so blatantly hard to get the viewer to love, respect, and root for Lincoln that it almost made me want to say out loud, "are you serious?" The first thirty-odd minutes are simply Honest Abe-propaganda. Not until the murder (where the photography and compositions really shines) does the film pick up a bit and the story really start. Even after that, though, so much doesn't feel right: in the court room, Lincoln comes off as pompous as he cracks jokes met with truely strange, uproarious laughter--how uncivilized was the judicial system of the mid 1800s!

The thread holding this all together, however, is Henry Fonda's turn at Abe. Even if the choices made for the character by the filmmakers came off as ostentatious, Fonda is able to channel that and bring a more modest tone to him.