the week in review (5/30/04 - 6/5/04)

Not much going on this week, with the move into Ballard, the finicky Internet connection, and the illness that knocked me on my ass for two days. It was like Helm's Deep in my body, I swear.

Stagecoach (1939, John Ford) (v) 93
The Cowboys of Altamira.

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976, Robert Altman) (v) 89
After reading some of the reviews on the 'net (especially Dave Kehr's something-crawled-up-my-ass-and-died capsule), I feel like I have to defend my rating. Screw it. This is classic Altman, and if you don't like, go home.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring (2004, Kim Ki-Duk) (f) 86
So, raise your hand if you're of the philosophy that says whatever's on the screen is the title. Every review I've seen calls it "Fall" instead of "Autumn"; did I see a British print or something?

Anyway, for a movie about a Buddhist monk and his pupil with that kind of title, you can pretty much predict what's going to happen. (You should be able to guess what happens in the second "Spring" segment right now, without even seeing the film.) What makes it wonderful is that while the end is predictable, the journey there is full of surprises. Ever see a man tow a boat with a rooster? You will.

Secret Fest #2 (can't say, won't say) (f) 47
Additional comments: While I was pretty lukewarm on the movie as a whole, there's an actor in a supporting role who is absolutely fantastic. You may or may not have seen him before; he's got some movies under his belt, but he used to work in a different artform. But I'm telling you now: in 2005, when he's the one of the leads in a major summer blockbuster, he's going to be huge. You heard it here first. Well, you would've, if I told you his name.

They Drive By Night (1940, Raoul Walsh) (v) 16
In what universe was George Raft a star? Oh right, this one. Incredible that this actor, with his oddly-shaped body, weirdly femme-y eyes, and the inability to convey any kind of emotion could be considered a romantic lead, but here's this movie. While there's some promising stuff here about the lives of truckers and the problems of capitalism, it's all torpedoed by incredibly annoying characters (Roscoe Karns makes Red Skelton look like one of Bresson's models), terrible writing (I don't know which is worse, the dinner scene with the one-armed Humphrey Bogart or Ida Lupino's breakdown in the courtroom), dialogue that makes everyone sound like Bugs Bunny (no one has a straight line), and a dopey third act (where people are put on trial for murder without a shred of physical evidence). Bogart manages to come away unscathed, but barely.

Where we saw it: week in review | We deign to rate it: outta 100
Posted by kza at 10:37 AM | Comments (6)