It is a “MOVIES WE WATCHED” extravaganza. Many of the Row Three writers dropped in a capsule or two over the past fortnight of stuff they have been looking at yet never fully posted on. So many in fact, it was hard trimming this down to a manageable entry. The ever growing series of these (since the inception of this website) can be browsed by clicking the icon on the sidebar. Feel free to comment on the smattering of choices (more new stuff than usual!) below.
The Brøken (2008) 4/5
I was not a fan of Sean Ellis’ “Cashback” but I was sold on his follow-up thanks to some great marketing materials and Lena Headey. The story here is going to be a hard sell which will likely scare away more than a handful of people but for those who dig in for the long run prepare yourself to be rocked because Ellis’ film is a masterwork of mood and everything from the editing to the sound design (apparent in the opening scenes) is designed to scare. There aren’t any jump scares here (yay!) but the film does leave you with a general WTF just happened feeling. Impressive. -MARINA
Angels & Demons (2009) 2.5/5
Allegedly this is based on the better book by Dan Brown, and almost by default Ron Howard has come up with a better movie than The DaVinci Code. Not hard really, just try and tone down the academic lecture and let the story flow more naturally. There are some funny attempts at ‘action’ with speeding cars sequences (not quite chases) between the the mystery set-pieces (all of which are staged at the big tourist spots in Rome, perhaps a $5 guidebook would have sufficed in tracking down the Illuminati). The film had me up until the last ten minutes, by which point I realized they were going to pull a stunt so ridiculous that it reassured me that I was watching an adaptation of a Dan Brown novel afterall. Still Rome was lovely to look at, even when it was predominately green screen. And kudos to them for using the Large Hadron Collider as a story element, it would seem Brown is as much of a conspiracy theorist as yours truly. -MIKE
Sleep Dealer (2008) 3.5/5
In an indiscriminate future, Mexicans do whatever they can to get near the US border, get themselves fitted with nodes that allow them to jack into an international virtual reality network, and get jobs controlling androids in the United States. In a single Mexican factory might be a row of jacked-in workers, each carrying out a different job (construction worker, nanny, maid, crop harvester, etc.) in a remote location. The scarcity of water in his farmland home and an attack on his home by security forces who think he is trying to steal water forces our hero Memo to make his way to Tijuana to get one of these factory jobs. Not everything completely works in the film – the ending is fairly predictable, especially if you have seen Star Wars. What I did really like about it, though, is how well it takes a situation that’s extremely current and puts a sci-fi twist on it. Aside from the virtual reality nodes and the lucrative market for memory uploads, there’s very little in the film that could not happen right now. It has a gritty immediacy that most sci-fi films lack. And in a way, that’s precisely what sci-fi has traditionally done before it co-opted as a setting for action films – used a somewhat unfamiliar setting or futuristic technology to illustrate an immediate social condition. I appreciate that. -JANDY
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2001) 3/5
While starting off rather brutal and interesting (the first movie about Germans held captive in prisoner of war camps in Russia) it gets annoyingly obvious and I hesitate to use the world cliche, but definitely typical. It’s a survival story of a man on the run across the arctic tundra. Sort of Rescue Dawn meets Never Cry Wolf meets The Fugitive. Other than the labor camp scenes in the beginning, the rest of the movie was pretty generic. The biggest problem was the production value which sort of felt like a made for TV movie from the BBC. Worth a look, but at about the halfway mark, you can hit FFW on your DVD player and pretty much get all you need to from this one. I’m sure the real life story on paper would be far more fascinating and inspirational. -ANDREW
The Room (2003) 0.5/5
I did not hit her. It’s not true. It’s bullshit! I did not hit her! I did NOT! Oh, hi Row Three. Widely regarded as one of the wost films ever made, The Room truly brings the crap with a vengeance. What is The Room you ask? The hell if I know. It could be the bedroom. It could be Tommy Wiseau’s ridiculous and unexplained accent. It could be the curious use of green screened roof tops. It really doesn’t matter, nor make sense, and that’s the point. At least I think it is anyway. Either way, The Room really should be experienced at least once in your lifetime, even if it is only so you can understand the first line of this review. -MATT
Best Worst Movie (2009) 3.5/5
A documentary film made by the former child actor and star of ostensibly the worst movie ever made, the infamous Troll 2 which had nothing to do with Troll, the (hilariously arrogant) Italian director did not speak the same language of the actors, and the actors (some of whom are not professionals) give across the board dreadful performances. Yet, the earnestness of Troll 2 in think itself a great movie has slowly built into a micro-phenomenon of screenings in major cities which sell out to very enthusiastic crowds who love its awfulness to the point of fetishization. The doc follows the films star, a career dentist who runs a successful practice in Alabama who gets re-caught up (and mildly disillusioned) in the hype of the film. Watching his rationalizations, and dealing with the adoration in certain circles, complete bafflement in others, has Best Worst Movie saying some interesting things about what people find important and how they define their lives. There is a lot going on underneath the surface. Oh, yea, you’ll probably want to track down Troll 2 after this. A mandatory double bill in fact. -KURT
Passengers (2008) 2.5/5
Patrick Wilson and Anne Hathaway are the draw into this film and they almost make it work except for the simple fact that this story sucks. Wilson and Hathaway are great, they have great chemistry but as the movie trucks along and director Rodrigo García gives us little bits and pieces, that something more is at play. Unfortunately, it is too little too late. I would love to see Wilson and Hathaway play off of each other again in the future and though they’re easily the best thing here, the story is boring and poorly put together. When the final reveal did finally come, I was ready to turn it off – I did not need to see more. -MARINA
What Doesn’t Kill You (2008) 2.5/5
It would be great if this movie really knew what it wanted to be. Ruffalo and Hawke are excellent but spanning about 30 years of their lives and jumping significant portions of time just undercuts the drama and potential of this story of two pals from South Boston who turn to a life of crime at a fairly young age and we see how that choice leads to chaos in their personal lives (including with each other). It doesn’t tell me anything I don’t already know and the drama is not particularly captivating. Basically one big meh. -ANDREW
The Limits of Control (2009) 4/5
Forty-five minutes in to Jim Jarmusch’s latest film the thesis is finally revealed, and with that, everything changes. Transforming a crime film into a plotless, dreamlike narrative requires a deft touch, and more often than not Jarmusch delivers. From a hand gliding past a corner, to written notes that can never be read, to a woman loading boxes in a shadowed doorway that is framed in red, The Limits of Control is not about telling a story, but about providing hints of a film that can’t be seen for the mysterious, ethereal plane that keeps the viewer one step away from ever seeing the whole picture. -MATT
I liked “The Broken” as well Marina, but maybe not as much as you. I too really like the aural in this film. It isn’t as good as something like Ils, but I liked the lack of too much orchestral.
PS – Should be getting Passengers in the mail tomorrow. I expect about exactly what you wrote.
The Broken, as an exercise in atmosphere and tension is pretty fucking swell. Not a perfect film, but a needed one in this era of teen horror and constant remakes.
Ooh, I’ll have to check out The Broken. I didn’t love Cashback, but I enjoyed it, and your description of The Broken, Marina, makes it sound like something I would love. Especially with Lena Headey in. Gotta have something to comfort me from losing The Sarah Connor Chronicles next year (although Dollhouse, yay – sorry for the off-topic).
Don’t forget Richard Jenkins is in there. And (although waaaaay too brief, Ulrich Thompson!)
@ unexplained accent
Matt, you have a weird ideas of what needs to be explained in movies.
Here’s the line of exposition you apparently needed.
“I’m from Austria.”
You’re welcome.
Remember when you complained that Mickey Rourke’s daughter being a lesbian in the Wrestler was a plot line that didn’t go anywhere. The fuck?
Anyways, The Room is definitely worth watching.
Except he’s not Austrian. Wiseau claims he’s from New Orleans. So evidently Johnny is Cajun. Wrap that around your brain for a bit.
And yes Rusty, The Wrestler totally dealt with lesbianism deftly. You are so right. Always. Feel better now?
Whoa Matt. Why so surly?
Wiseau is eastern European.
And I got to echo the love for Broken. Fantastic film, really creepy and beautifully shot. Slow paced which might put some people off, Fangoria didn’t like it one bit. I was a big fan of Cashback as well.
Whoa Matt. Why so surly?
Half awake maybe, but not surly. I find Wiseau fascinating, especially that he does his damndest to hide where he’s from. The countless inferences that he’s French, saying he grew up in New Orleans, all of that is part of the charm and that it bleeds over into the film is a bonus. I’d use the term meta, but you’ve over used it as it is Kurt.
I also love his reasoning for why the line “You’re tearing me apart Lisa!” is funny. Not because his delivery is awful, but because Lisa isn’t physically pulling him into two pieces. That’s just good comedy.
Kermode’s rant on Angels & Demons is pretty good this week. Something along the lines of “Stupider than the stupidest piece of stupid ever made. Stupider than “Exorcist II: The Heretic.”
Then he goes on for 20 minutes on Ewan McGregor’s ridiculous accent. It’s great.
That would mean it was stupider than the DaVinci Code and that is not possible. Actually it functions pretty decently, it has pacing right whereas the former never did. But good God, two really dumb things happen at the end of Angels. Also had to be the most talking in the audience during a film EVER. Everyone had read the book and any deviations were promptly pointed out by the pseudo-scholars.
That would mean it was stupider than the DaVinci Code and that is not possible.
Oh I beg to differ. Try reading some Graham Hancock for some knowledge that will truly melt your brain due to the sheer scale of stupidity.
You see Graham believes the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail are the same thing (the Grail being a myth created to help give clues to where the Ark was being hidden by the Knights Templar). He also believes that he knows the exact location of where the Ark is being held, in Ethiopia.
He also believes that the Ark was given to Moses by … wait for it … space aliens.
http://www.grahamhancock.com/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0749301864/theofficialgra0b
Be sure to read the griping follow up Finger Prints of the Gods as well, in which Graham postulates (AND PROVES MIND YOU) that humans are really descendants of space aliens who simply have forgotten how to do space alieny stuff over the past 2000 years. Also Atlantis exists.
@ Forty-five minutes in to Jim Jarmusch’s latest film the thesis is finally revealed, and with that, everything changes.
Matt, I saw Limits of Control last night. Which moment are you talking about?
When Tilda Swinton claims the best movies are like dreams. She then qualifies it by saying their are certain movies she remembers but isn’t sure she actually saw. For me that helped clarify that Jarmusch was abandoning a linear plot/story for a more abstract creation.
I’d even go far as to say I don’t think he wants people to watch this film more then once, but let it live in their (the viewer) own minds.
@ When Tilda Swinton claims the best movies are like dreams.
Heavy handed.
I’m not sure I would go so far as to say one line of dialogue in an entire film makes it heavy handed, but it certainly was a deliberate and direct engagement with the audience. And that delivery certainly fit with the rest of the film, which continually offered hints of the plot line without ever revealing it fully.
In other films that probably would have annoyed me, but for whatever reason I really enjoyed it in this one.
I didn’t say the whole film was heavy handed. I called that line heavy handed. I liked a lot of things about the film but the procession of silly walk-on roles was not among them.
“I used my imagination” is one of the best lines of the year.
I also somehow I didn’t notice that the main character didn’t have a name.
@ And that delivery certainly fit with the rest of the film, which continually offered hints of the plot line without ever revealing it fully.
Not following you. “diliberate and direct engagement with the audience” and “offering hints of the plot without revealing it” sound like opposites to me.
I really wanted to like the film. I love Jarmusch. I love De Bankole (Manderlay is an underappreciated film). But I hate repetition so this film was a tough pill to swallow.
You say that at the point where tilda swinton says her line (I don’t agree that it’s the thesis of the film. If it is this is a shallow film) that “everything changes”.
I wish I could agree. But from my perspective De Bankole puts on a new suit symbolizing a change that doesn’t actually happen. He continues on trading match boxes with strangers. There’s another beat late in the film (we walks past a poster with a familiar face on it) where again the tone seems to change. But then two scenes later… notes in match boxes. It was annoying.
I have a pretty half assed understanding of eastern mysticism but I’m pretty sure both the title and the theme of repetition are references to the I Ching. There were a handful of visual clues scattered through the film as well.
Ugh. 2.5 stars for PASSENGERS is generous Marina. That movie was sweaty ballz. You’re right that Hathaway rocks, but it’s pointless. Her and Wilson could do something great together, but certainly not this bullshit.
Not surprised this went basically right to DVD. I AM surprised that Wilson and Hathaway (and Morse et. al) actually signed up for this. Seriously? After an Oscar nomination and Rachel Getting Married this is what you do? I’m disappointed and angry.
The only thing of note I watched this week is the complete series (a whopping 8 episodes) of Summer Heights High, an Australian TV series much along the lines of the Office UK and Christopher Guest movies – a fake documentary with interesting characters that arent necessarily likeable. One man plays the three main characters, including a 16 year old girl and a 13 year old Polynesian boy, and you think you’d get some awful Little Britain vibe out of that, but it manages to still be realistic, and you wonder at how good a performer Chris Lilly is to dive into this character so well. It’s the funniest new thing I’ve seen this year, and one of the deleted scenes (theres 4 hours of deleted scenes, as long as the series itself) had me howling more than anything I’ve watched in years.
So buzzwords, Christopher Guest, Office UK, and I guess Sacha Baron Cohen because of the characterizations. Check it out. Awesome.
I also watched the original Bad News Bears for the first time since I was like, 12. I still enjoyed it very much, but I forgot just how loose and sloppy it is – and how that is so much of its charm, you feel like you’re watching real kids playing real baseball and not a movie with set up shots.
I was able to see just why Linklater would thus be into that rambling mess and think he could improve it, but it was still a big mistake.
And while so many sports movies are pretty much the same, its pretty easy to see now that the Mighty Ducks in particular took just about EVERYTHING from Bad News Bears.
Watched Episode 1 of True Blood. Shit. I’ll watch Ep. 2, but I doubt it will go any further than that.
After an Oscar nomination and Rachel Getting Married this is what you do? I’m disappointed and angry.
I’m fairly certain Passengers was made first. Both it and RGM were released within a week or so of each other, and studio pics tend to be filmed at least a year before they are released.
Matt, I thought about that after I wrote it. Whatever though; the statement still stands and doesn’t matter which was first. They were done at relatively the same time. One is shit, one is amazing.
@Andrew – You should give TB more than 2 episodes. That show is all sorts of awesome.
I await for some revisionist genius to be applied to True Blood. Until that time, I’m content to give the show a pass based on the embarrassingly bad first episode. If it turns out to be what Seinfeld-was-to-sitcoms, well, I’ll come back.
Also, I strongly dug LIMITS OF CONTROL, even as it spiraled out of control. Chalk up another stunning picture for Christopher Doyle, as the chief pleasure here is looking at the framing of Isaach De Bankole exist in a plethora of (increasingly rural) gorgeous architecture.
@ Also, I strongly dug LIMITS OF CONTROL, even as it spiraled out of control.
Spiraled out of control? I must’ve gone out to the bathroom during that part. Or maybe I was lulled into a state of hypnosis.
But I kid I kid. It’s ok.
I guess meaning that the Loner Character actually ‘got on with his mission’ rather than sitting in coffee shops. I liked all the museum visits and cafe sitting.
@ I liked all the museum visits and cafe sitting.
ugh. yer part of the problem.
It’s all apart of the whole ‘implode the genre’ thing I happen to dig going on at the moment. Olivier Assayas does this as well (not to mention the global feel (actors, language, setting) to his movies).
I want movies to sit and be contemplative. I like the impeccable soundtrack of this film, it is sort of a thrum and less of a tune. I’m not sure if I’d sit down with a BORIS CD, but to these visuals it is magic!
Furthermore, I happen to like these sort of formalist experiment movies. As each character comes into LIMITS OF CONTROL, they seem to give away some of the philosophy behind the film. Matt mentioned Swinton above, but Gael Garcia Bernal talks about the reflected image, and that is certainly Christopher Doyle’s shooting strategy of the film. The Creole and Frenchmen at the beginning introduce Jarmusch’s constant fiddling with two characters understanding each other beyond language (see Bankole himself in the ice-cream truck Ghost Dog!) John Hurt talks about the loss of Bohemian-ism (the nomadic Loner Character seems to embody this and be 180 degrees from it -> which is kind of one layer of meaning of the title.) etc. etc.
I could bullshit for hours about the strange politics of the film (and the Bill Murray character), and it would sound like horse-shit indeed, but ultimately (like Gerry, Waking Life and most of Jarmusch’s other films -> although Dead Man certainly comes to mind) the film is an experience, one that meditates on a particular filmmaker and how he comes up with his ideas and philosophies.
Limits of Control is a pretty good survey of Jarmusch’s work, although admittedly I’ve not seen all of his films (the one with the taxi cab, and Stranger than Paradise are glaring holes!)
Most of the stuff you mention I agree. I like the formal asthetics, the international feel, the asceticism. I love Jarmusch’s eye for scenery and his disinterest in explaining how and why. It is sort of an anti story. And like I say above, I think “I used my imagination” is one of the best movie lines I’ve heard in a while.
I hate the feel of my mind numbing though. And that’s what the repetition is there to accomplish. It’s eastern mysticism mumbo jumbo derived from I Ching nonsense.
And the more I think about it the less I like the supporting players. Jarmusch has wasted a bunch of talented actors in roles that are total amateur hour. They walk on, show off their gimmick, say their inflectionless sub Waking Life musings and then leave. It’s like listening to a conversation between fortune cookies.
To simply say that the film is confounding and tedious for the sake of being “meditative” (ugh) is juvenille and excuses the choice from the gauntlet of critical thinking. It’s the artsy pretentious cousin to “stop thinking and enjoy michael bay idiocy”.
I feel like repeating that I did’t hate the film.
@ I’ve not seen all of his films (the one with the taxi cab, and Stranger than Paradise are glaring holes!
Night On Earth is the only one I really don’t like. I’ve never seen Mystery Train.
I watched Shopgirl today and quite enjoyed it. I think I was in just the right mood for it. It’s very slow and a lot artier than I expected, but in a transfixing way that worked for me. Schwartzman is pretty fantastic in this, and its good to see Steve Martin doing something that isn’t beneath him. 4/5
Ugh, just saw Passengers, what a disappointment. I knew it wasn’t going to be good, but I was hoping it would at least be trashy and fun. Not enough hotness that the trailer seemed to promise, and the thriller stuff was taken way too seriously. Tsk tsk Annie. After this and Bride Wars, I sure hope your next flick out of the gate is better. :S