Week in Film #12: 3/14/16-3/20/26

Week in Film #12: 3/14/16-3/20/16

Film of the Week: Do the Right Thing
   Year: 1989
   Director: Spike Lee

       Race is a touchy subject in America. This is not a touchy film. It's a punch. It's not wearing gloves. Bloody knuckles, bruised and unabating. The best aspect of the film is it's not an attack on the viewer, politics, or society, really. Well, it is and it isn't. What is isn't doing is taking sides, and it isn't saying what's right or wrong or pointing fingers. It's simply happening, as it is and has across this country. And even in this sense it doesn't feel cold or remote. It's set on the hottest day of the summer and you really do feel the heat. You feel involved, to it's strength, coming from all angles. You may not agree with the people you encounter, but you see things from their perspective, because it forces you to. 

Rating: A

The Rest: 

The Death of a Cyclist
   Year: 1955
   Director: Juan Antonio Bardem

       A reasonably decent drama thriller with more drama than thrills; in fact, not many things that would constitute the title thriller at all. It's a thriller mostly on principle and the way it is directed, as the two main characters in the end have very little to be worried about, as the crime they committed was seen by no one. It's the lead up to this discovery (which they already knew, really) that has the suspense. What this really is is an investigation of paranoia that comes with romantic affairs, and the secretive suspicions that it causes. This climaxes in a rather fatal way, ironic due to the fact that not much of the events preceding really demanded that sort of thing to happen, unless you count on some cosmic, universal level. The whole thing could have been avoided, but it was there paranoia that was eventually there ruin. That and their morality (as well as lack there of). 

   Rating: C

The Thin Blue Line
   Year: 1988
   Director: Errol Morris

       Clearly a big influence on true crime stories on TV, except a much more artistic and well made version of that genre of reality show. It's surprising seeing this type of moviemaking outside the realm of fiction films. There's a kind of artificial artistry in the recreation scenes that would initially seem to be out of place in a documentary, but in the end works to the films advantage. The story itself is one of artifice too. That artifice, however, lies in the line between the world of ones appearance, and the truth hidden beneath. As the director continues to interview, the covers are slowly pulled away to reveal something twisted in the psyche of a murderer and possibly something worse in our society.

   Rating: B

Kanal
   Year: 1956
   Director: Andrzej Wajda

       What starts as an impressively shot war story eventually turns into an incredibly bleak and haunting horror film. The horror is, of course, not the type that comes dressed in capes and fangs or jump scares, but a much more real horror: that of war. As much as any film I've seen, and quite more than most of them, this film really brings to life those horrors. The second half of the film is a decent into the sewers of Warsaw, aka Hell. Down there hope is obliterated in many unforgiving, diabolical ways. It's a labyrinth of the grotesque and depraved areas of the human mind and world realities, and it is all directed and shot impeccably. There were quite a few scenes that made me think, damn, this really is ahead of it's time. 

   Rating: B+

A Few Good Men
   Year: 1992
   Director: Rob Reiner

       This is likely the quintessential standard hollywood 90s film. It's got the stars, the predictable plot, the contrivances, the glossy sheen, the overall competence and solidity that makes it serviceable, but nothing at all special in any way (with the exception of Nicholson). Sometimes bordering on the eye-rollingly sentimental and hilariously contrived, it at least has a solid cast and a good script to help take away the cloying sense of unoriginality and overriding banality of the whole thing.

   Rating: C-

All the President's Men
   Year: 1976
   Director: Alan J. Pakula

       Political films always have the potential to be a bore, so it's a feat in it of itself when one is this entertaining. It's visually rich and always engaging. Hoffman and Redford are on the top of their games. There is really not much to criticize here. A solidly made film about journalism and it's importance in our society. The good it can do, in opposition to the to the bad rep it usually gets. Would be a good double feature with Spotlight, both films about journalists who care more about doing the right thing than getting the flashiest headlines.

   Rating: B+

Repo Man
   Year: 1984
   Director: Alex Cox

       It may not be prestige or art house, but in my opinion it is as worthy of its addition in the criterion collection as a Lubitsch or Godard. It may not be a classic in the classic sense, but it has been deemed a classic in the cult variety and therefore earns its spot in the annals of the criterion spine. Relating it to other similar low budget sci-fi cult films, while apt, is also under crediting it to some degree. It's more than just that: it's a social commentary, foreboding warning, and a reflection of a time, place, and culture.

   Rating: B-

To Be or Not to Be
   Year: 1942
   Director: Ernst Lubitsch

       Nazi satire better than the Great Dictator, and a great example of the best the classic Hollywood era has to offer. It is full of enough twists and turns to constitute it as a straight thriller, but the comedy really makes it whole and makes it memorable in the long run. The humor in question is pretty great considering the time period, and works well in the film. Not the greatest WWII comedy but certainly up there,

   Rating: B