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EC reviews 6 new movies: NICK AND NORAH, APPALOOSA, RELIGULOUS, HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS, RODANTHE and SAVE ME

October 6th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008)
Directed by Peter Sollett
Starring: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Ari Graynor, Alexis Dziena, Rafi Gavron, Aaron Yoo, Jay Baruchel and Eddie Kaye Thomas as Jesus
Rating: ★★★½☆

Tris (Alexis Dziena) called it quits with Nick (Michael Cera) on his birthday and after 12 volumes of breakup mix tapes, she still finds room in her cold heart to rip on them before tossing them in the garbage. Although they have never met, Norah (Kat Dennings) wishes that she had a guy like Nick that would make her mix tapes. Sound predictable? If goes exactly where you’d expect and with this cast taking us through the motions, it’s a blessing. I didn’t see much to Michael Cera’s performance (or anything else) in Juno. He reminded me of a mildly catatonic Ted Bessell. The naturalistic appeal that once eluded at last brought a smile to my face. Some of it borders dangerously on cute. Nick is the only straight member of a gay boy band named The Jerk Offs, but the nonjudgmental manner in which the group is depicted sends out a message of tolerance and acceptance that contemporary teen audiences don’t get enough of. The film tries too hard to be PG-13. It’s all about a night in the life of a group of partying teens and there’s not one drug or cigarette in sight. There’s plenty of booze on screen, but neither of the title characters drink. Are we in Oz yet? This needed a bit more of an R rated Valley Girl bite to add an edge. Was Nick’s Yugo a subtle nod to Terry the Toad driving Opie’s Edsel, or am I thinking too much? Our lovers meet cute when Norah begs Nick to be her boyfriend for five minutes in order to prove that she has a date. Nick’s bandmates draw designated driver duty and are assignmed the task of driving Norah’s wasted BBF Caroline. Ari Graynor, handing in a hilarious, dead on depiction of a pretty (as in hot) drunk girl. For some reason, the image of Kat Denning sitting on the beach behind Edward Norton and Evan Rachel Wood is one of the strongest I retain from Down in the Valley. She learned early in life to stay away with movies that have “house” in their titles, particularly when they also feature words like “Bunny” and Big Momma’s 2.” Ms. Dennings takes a giant career move forward in this romantic charmer. As a date movie,  it lacks the intelligence of The Wackness and the verbal snap of In Search of a Midnight Kiss, N&N managed to quickly win me over. Honestly, it had me in reel one.

Nights in Rodanthe (2008)
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Starring: Diane Lane and Richard Gere

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

This probably would have passed by me had I not filled in at a vacationing friend’s movie group that screened it. (The Cinema Society of San Diego.) Long my favorite genre, melodramas, particularly romantic melodramas, are almost as dead as the western. This isn’t the one to resurrect the order, but it gives it a better shot that most recent soapers. It’s been a long time since Diane Lane and Richard Gere appeared together in The Cotton Club and their recent pairing, Unfaithful, didn’t win my loyalty. Lording over the proceedings is first timer George Wolfe (Tony winning director of Angels in America) and the entire show has two characters and is set in one location. Fortunately, he forgot to pack his hammer (the one most first time theatre directors use to nail movie cameras to the floor), as this is several cuts above canned theatre. Always a sucker for camera movements, there is a spectacular one as Gere approaches the inn that Lane is watching for a friend. The camera flies forward from the back seat, giving us only a momentary glimpse of Gere in the rearview, darts towards the inn and literally sucks the audience in as it swirls around the building before taking us through the front door. The suds are kept to a minimum and Ms. Lane gives the performance of her career. Former students with long memories will be quick to jump down my throat, but I have actually warmed a bit to Richard Gere. (Chicago had nothing to do with it!) Nowhere near as good as Nick and Norah and whole lot less funny.

Continue reading EC reviews 6 new movies: NICK AND NORAH, APPALOOSA, RELIGULOUS, HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS, RODANTHE and SAVE ME

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KPBS Film Club reviews 5 new movies!

September 18th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Not the most inspired crop of movies this time around, but we did our best to keep it lively. And, uhhh…thanks for visiting emotioncompulsion.org. That’s what I get for lacing Tom’s coffee with psylicyben…

To listen to the show, click here.

Take it away, Tom!

Tom Fudge: We’ll talk about the following movies on this edition of Film Club of the Air:

Burn After Reading: We start with a new movie by Joel and Ethan Coen. The Coen brothers had a big year last year, winning Academy Awards for Best Picture AND Best Director for their film, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, No Country for Old Men. Their new movie is called Burn After Reading. This movie takes place in Washington D.C.. In the beginning, we meet a CIA man who loses his job and decides to write a memoir. He loses a CD copy of his memoir, which is found by two people who work at a gym, and think they’ve stumbled across some top secret material. Meanwhile, the CIA man’s wife is having an affair with a U.S. Marshall. The people who work at the gym try to extort money from the CIA guy, then they try to sell his memoir to the Russians. This story soon becomes a great thicket of love affairs, mistaken identities, and foiled plots. Burn After Reading stars John Malcovich as the CIA man, George Clooney as the U.S. Marshall, and Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt as the people who work at the gym.

Burn After Reading is currently playing in area theaters.

The next movie on our list is Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet. This movie stars two of the most prominent film actors alive today, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Righteous Kill is a cop movie in which our two stars play two homicide detectives. At one point, they start investigating the work of a serial killer who murders people that have been accused or convicted of heinous crimes. Police begin to suspect that the serial killer is a police officer. In fact, we see bits of a video tape in which Turk, De Niro’s character, appears to be confessing to the crimes. The mystery and the investigation plays out. In the end, we see the confrontation between the main characters as it becomes clear what’s been going on. Righteous Kill also stars Carla Gugino and John Leguizamo.

Righteous Kill is currently playing in area theaters.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is a movie by writer-director Alex Holdridge. Its main character is a slacker named Wilson who’s trying, though not trying very hard, to make a go of it as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. Wilson doesn’t have much going on in his life, and his roommate encourages him to get out of the apartment and make some friends. So he goes onto Craig’s List to tell the world he’s in search of a companion. His internet ad says “misanthrope seeks misanthrope.” As a result, Wilson meets Vivian, who is as surly as Wilson is lonely and depressed. Together, they set out to explore Los Angeles by foot (something I wasn’t sure you could actualy do). The film stars Scoot McNairy and Sara Simmonds.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is playing at Landmark’s Ken Cinema through September 18th.

Our next movie is called Choke, directed and co-written by Clark Gregg. In this movie the main character is Victor, a sex addict who works at a historical theme park. He dresses up in period costume and gives tours to tourists. The title Choke refers to Victor’s habit of going to restaurants and pretending to choke on food, hoping some rich person will save his life, bond with him, and give him money. The money is meant to help Victor pay for his mother’s residence in a high-priced mental health hospital. Victor joins a sex addict support group while he’s also falling for his mother’s nurse. Meanwhile, he’s obsessed with finding out who his real father was, before his mother dies. Choke is based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, who’s best known for the book Fight Club, which was also made into a movie.

Choke opens in area theaters on September 26th.

Sukiyaki Western Django: This spoof of spaghetti westerns was made by veteran Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike and stars Quentin Tarantino.

Sukiyaki Western Django opens in area theaters on October 10th.

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KPBS Film Club reviews PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, MAN ON WIRE, THE LAST MISTRESS, VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA, BAGHEAD and more!

August 6th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Today’s show not only covered the customary five films, we also found time to drop plugs for two more upcoming films. Alan Ray, filling in for the vacationing Tom Fudge, kept the show moving at a brisk clip and without any callers the time literally flew by. The show commences with a cameo by the ever-vibrant Gloria Penner who was called upon to make a couple of corrections on a previous story. After that it’s all movies, only movies. Just the way I like it! Below are Alan’s introductory descriptions of the five films. Listen to the entire Podcast here.

“PINEAPPLE EXPRESS: Pineapple Express is both a stoner comedy and a spoof of action movies. It’s written by the guys who wrote Superbad and produced by Judd Apatow, who directed Knocked Up. Seth Rogen stars as Dale, a stoner who witnesses a murder committed by a drug lord and a crooked cop. As a result, he and his equally stoned friend Saul, played by James Franco, have to go on the lam. The term Pineapple Express refers to high grade marijuana that is very rare. Judd Apatow has had a lot of success with the lovable losers at the center of his comedies; let’s find out if this one succeeds.
Pineapple Express opens in area theaters today.

MAN ON WIRE: In 1974, a group of foreign nationals snuck into the World Trade Center carrying equipment that included heavy grade wire and a bow and arrow. They worked all night preparing for what would happen when daylight arrived. Come morning, Philippe Petit, a French tightrope walker and street performer, walked across a wire suspended between the two towers 110 stories above the ground. He remained on the wire for 45 minutes, attracting a crowd of onlookers on the street below, and finally was taken away by police. The new documentary Man on Wire tells the story of Philippe Petit and his grand caper through interviews with the Petit and his team, reenactments of events, and archival footage.

Man on Wire opens at Landmark’s Hillcrest theaters this Friday.

THE LAST MISTRESS: The Last Mistress is a costume drama written and directed by the French director Catherine Breillat, who is best known for the provocative films Romance and Fat Girl. The Last Mistress is set among the French aristocracy in the 1900’s and tells the story of a passionate affair between a young woman named Veillini and a penniless nobleman named Ryno, who has just married an innocent heiress. Because of his marriage, Ryno has to end his affair, and this doesn’t sit so well with Veillini, who is strong-willed and tempestuous.

The Last Mistress opens at Landmark’s La Jolla Village Cinemas this Friday.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA: It’s another Woody Allen movie, with a couple of interesting back stories. There’s another of “those kisses”…and Scarlett Johansson’s e-mail relationship with Barack Obama. The movie is set in Barcelona. It’s about sexual attraction, and what to do about it, with whom.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona opens on August 15 in area theaters.

BAGHEAD: Two couples go off to spend the weekend in an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere so they can write a screenplay. But, alas, their efforts are foiled by a guy with a paper bag over his head. This is the basic plot of the horror movie/relationship drama called Baghead. Baghead was written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, otherwise known as the Duplass Brothers. Their 2005 movie Puffy Chair was an indie favorite. In this movie, they spoof independent film festivals, moviemaking, and horror movies.

Baghead is currently playing at Landmark’s Hillcrest Theaters and tonight’s your last night to see it - or (DON’T!!!) rent it on DVD in a couple of months.”

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KPBS Film Club reviews THE WACKNESS, MONGOL, UP THE YANGTZE, SAVAGE GRACE & MOTHER OF TEARS

June 25th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Olivia Thirlby in THE WACKNESS

Good show today, but I can’t believe how much mileage we got out of Mongol. Glad that Tom didn’t see Savage Grace (most decidedly not for him), but I wish that he would have been able to catch The Wackness. It’s got Fudge written all over it.

The Argento discussion could have been a bit livelier, by our producer warned me not to mention anything about a sword being thrust so deeply into a woman’s private parts that it pops out of her mouth. Gotta’ love Dario Argento.

Believe it or not, the clip from The Conqueror did not come from my Good Times DVD. Credit Beth with beating me to the punch. It was also nice to have someone other than myself evoke Hitler’s name. Not unlike Woody Allen, I try to sneak it into every show.

To those of you that listen in your car, drive safely.

Download the Podcast here.

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On tomorrow’s KPBS Film Club of the Air

June 24th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Tomorrow’s show will be unprecedented: we’re coming up on July and I like all five of the films we are reviewing and only two are sub-titled!!! This doesn’t happen in winter let alone summer.

Tune in tomorrow to hear Beth Accomando, Tom Fudge and your obedient servant when we review Mongol, Savage Grace, Mother of Tears, Up the Yangtze and my favorite American movie of the year, The Wackness.

For those of you in the San Diego area…how the hell do you afford to live out here? Anyway, for you hometown lads and laddies the show airs at 10 am on 89.5 FM. There will be a link posted amidst tomorrow’s madness.

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Phil Donahue joins KPBS-Radio’s Film Club of the Air

April 23rd, 2008 by Scott Marks

body-of-war.jpg
Eddie Vedder, Tomas Young, Ellen Spiro, Phil Donahue

On this morning’s Film Club we were joined via telephone by Phil Donahue who is making the rounds promoting his exceptional new anti-war documentary Body of War which he co-wrote and directed with Ellen Spiro. Phil spoke with great passion and intensity about the film’s subject Tomas Young, a paralyzed veteran cut down after only five days of service. The film details the unspeakable indignities the 25-year-old vet must endure on a daily basis as well his rapidly changing feelings concerning the merit of Bush’s “war on terror.”

Sadly, more people will see Morgan Spurlock’s giggle fest than Body of War. It’s not often that I use the word important when it come to cinema. I was hipped to this after seeing the trailer for A Night at the Opera which refers to the Marx Bros. romp as one of “the most important comedies ever made!”

Generally, if a poster contains the loaded term I break out in hives. That said, this is one of the most important films I have seen in years, and even though I’m a born pacifist and a die-hard Bush-hater it has forever changed the way I look at war.

I’ve talked this film up to like-minded friends as well as strangers at the checkout stand. (I hold back by not mentioning the catheter scene or that I cried all the way through it.) Unfortunately, the reaction is almost always the same: “I don’t know if I want to see it. It sounds too depressing.” It angers me that our society is pulling a blanket over their collective eyes as I am convinced that films like this (not Redacted) will help bring about an end to the war.

Since starting this blog I have never once insisted that you see a film, not even one of Marty’s. I’m doing it now. Please, hold off on seeing Harold and Kumar and if you’re smart, skip The Life Before Her Eyes and Deception altogether. Break away from your computers and home entertainment centers and see this movie opening weekend.

Also on the show, three concise minutes on Shine a Light, reviews of My Blueberry Nights, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden and Redbelt in addition to some closing fireworks over Zombie Strippers.

Note to San Diegans: Ellen Spiro will be making a personal appearance at this Saturday night’s 7:15 pm screening at The Ken.

Download the Film Club podcast here.

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