The Summer in a Sentence

Time! It flies. My how it has flown this summer. To make up for the lost minutes, the movies for July and August will be outlined in one quick sentence each*. One single, solitary line to expedite the whole shebang and get me away from my computer and back to the movie theater. The summer may be wrapping up, but there are still so many new movies to see. Off we go!

*Note: Not all entries are one sentence.


July 2009

Public Enemies - (2009) - Film
Seen: Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I saw Michael Mann's latest film on opening night, and was thrilled, as I always am, by the iridescence of his imagery; the culmination of which came in the movie theater scene as Dillinger (Depp) watches W.S. Van Dyke's Manhattan Melodrama (1934), wherein Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy become sutured into Mann's modern day narrative. Stunning.











Horse Feathers - (1932) - DVD
Seen: Friday, July 3, 2009

That the film opens with Groucho Marx as the new president of the university without any setup or explanation sets the tone for all that follows: total absurdity, in hilarious Marx fashion.















Manhattan Melodrama - (1934) - DVD
Seen: Monday, July 6, 2009

A companion screening of W.S. Van Dyke's gangster melodrama on the heels of Mann's Public Enemies, you know, just to be thorough (and to admire William Powell's dashing ways).















Chimes at Midnight - (1965) - Film
Seen: Saturday, July 11, 2009

Orson Welles's big to-do this summer was Chimes at Midnight, a super-rare 35mm screening of the director's film made in the sixties in Spain, long after his fall from Hollywood grace (if you believe he was ever appreciated there at all), where he's cast as the bumbling and unrefined Falstaff--a man of good humor and appetite even in the most tragic life circumstances. He's sort of like Welles himself. Ebert has a nice paragraph on this in his 2006 review:

Welles was born to play Falstaff, not only because of the physical similarity but because of the rich voice, sonorous and amused, and the shared life experience. Both men lived long and too well, were at odds with the powers at court and were constantly in debt. Both knew disappointment, and one of the most sublime moments in Welles' career is simply the expression on his face at the coronation of Henry V, when he cries out "God save thee, my sweet boy," and the new king replies, "I know thee not, old man."

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - (2007) - DVD
Seen: Monday, July 20, 2009

What a great documentary on the tribulations of two competing Donkey Kong gamers, each of such polarizing, yet true, archetypal character. Also, from someone who never made it past the first half of the first level in the Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong, that the gaming competition exists at all is miraculous.









The Swimming Pool - (1969) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, July 25, 2009

A movie we might classify under the genre title "French." It's cerebral without saying very much, and even if you don't grow tired of gazing at Alain Delon the story will have you dozing off before long.














August 2009

In The Loop - (2009) - Film
Seen: Sunday, August 2, 2009

Really had fun with this movie (despite the disheartening New Yorker review) and put up a short bit about it on Scarlett Cinema.










(500) Days of Summer - (2009) - Film
Seen: Wednesday, August 5, 2009

He outgrew his overalls, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a welcome addition to the screen as an adult actor; with Zooey Daschanel at his side (500) Days is the free spirit film of the summer. Their chemistry was cute, and I loved the film's framing of the city of LA. I didn't realize LA could look like a busy downtown, but apparently, it can.


Julie & Julia - (2009) - Film
Seen: Saturday, August 8, 2009

Adored Ms. Ephron's delicious summer delight Julie & Julia. You can read my full song of praise at Scarlett Cinema.









La Promesse - (1996) - DVD
Seen: Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Darnennes's film La Promesse arrived in time to temper the overflowing joy of Julie & Julia and Beaches of Agnes, which is nice for the sake of emotional balance, I suppose, but then again, the dire life of a boy on the cut-throat streets of Paris who single-handedly tries to save an African immigrant from his father who plans to force her into prostitution was a tough pill to swallow amidst such glee. I think this is my third or fourth Dardennes picture. They employ a quite raw visual aesthetic that looks to me like a hybrid of Barbara Loden, Cassavetes, and old French noir.







Beaches of Agnes - (2009) - Film
Seen: Sunday, August 16, 2009

The matron of French New Wave cinema, Agnes Varda, made the best movie of the summer (and maybe the year) with her Beaches of Agnes, a wise, playful reflection on both life's victories and pains. Read more of my thoughts on the film at Scarlett Cinema.






The Big Country - (1958) - DVD
Seen: Friday, August 21, 2009

All this talk for years about John Ford's The Searchers (1956) as the standard-bearer of the Western genre and, lo and behold, I discover William Wyler's little-known The Big Country that gives the former a demanding run for its money. How had I not seen this before? How can wide-angle shots of the land go on forever in spite of the film frame? How? I loved it. Perhaps more thoughts later.












Cold Souls - (2009) - Film
Seen: Friday, August 21, 2009

All aboard! Next stop: Depressing City, population: Paul Giamatti.

Wonderful performances from both Giamatti and David Strathairn. I wish I felt the same about the story that fell flat.




My Man Godfrey - (1936) - DVD
Seen: Thursday, August 27, 2009

My Man is my new go-to movie on bored nights that need a quick injection of love and laughter. I've seen this at least five times now, but seeing Lombard and Powell together is always a new experience. And being in ear shot of Eugene Pallette's fatherly grumble is on its own winning.







District 9 - (2009) - Film
Seen: Saturday, August 29, 2009

So it's an allegory about apartheid starring aliens as the discarded members of South African society and the message is clear: segregation is bad. I totally agree, but I wish District 9 had something more politically substantial to say about that. And this one instance where, to avoid motion sickness, I was praying for a Steadycam. Alas...

Inglourious Basterds - (2009) - Film
Seen: Sunday, August 30, 2009

Months of anticipation leading up to a film by a director I have historically disliked culminated the week before Inglourious Basterds's wide release: the blogosphere was all atwitter. Seriously, Twitter blew up with 140 character debates that made me lose my breath with excitement; J. Rosenbaum called it the "cinematic equivalent of Sarah Palin" and a Holocaust denial; even my bestie who's always been a QT fan gave it a big "meh." However, there is nothing that gets me in the theater quicker than controversy. I have to say, this is not only the first Tarantino picture that I liked, it's also the film that I believe will define the rest of his career; this really is his masterpiece.

For all of the cries about IB's political orientation the truth is this film isn't about politics or history at all, it's about the movies. Merely name-dropping director's names from the silent era (as is done with G.W. Pabst many times here) is not enough to qualify as a discourse on the history of cinema, but engaging with the history of cinematic style does. Looking at this picture felt like a walking tour through the arc of film history. It's a discourse that usually has a default frame around the American system, but Tarantino takes it international. It wasn't just the look of the film's visual variegation across the strata of cinematic styles, but its proud reliance on international languages too. He's probably the only one in Hollywood who can subtitle a film and still attract a big audience. This may sound silly considering how gruesome and bloody IB is, but Tarantino has never felt so transparently playful and deeply admiring of the moving image. I just want to give him a big hug!