The Savages

"Away From Her" meets "The Squid and the Whale," but not as dramatic or funny. Better than "Away," worse than "The Squid."

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The editor of "Elle" magazine has a stroke and suffers from locked-in syndrome; he can only blink one eye. It's like the fantabulous "Johnny Got His Gun," but without the anti-war message. The first part of the film is seen from the main character's perspective and is very creatively filmed: the director shows the effects of light and tears on the vision and how restricted his world has become. "The Diving Bell" also has a great cast, especially Mathieu Amalric as the main character and Marie-Josée Croze as his speech therapist. The film is much better than director Julian Schnabel's other work, like "Before Night Falls." This is an accomplished and fully realized work of art.

But it wouldn't be one of my blog entries without me sharing some quibbles. As the movie goes on, we see some flashback scenes from the guy's life, but the scenes suffer from the same fatal flaw as in "The Passion of the Christ." They don't illuminate anything about the character and seem out of place. If you recall, "The Passion" was one man being tortured to death, with some scenes from his past. A decent director might have used these scenes to show why this man was being tortured; Gibson used the scenes to show Christ telling his followers things like, "This cracker is my body; eat of me." The film gives you absolutely no reason to feel sympathy for the main character because you don't know why people love or hate him so much. So long story short, the scenes from his past could have been better. And granted, the main character in "The Diving Bell" can only blink one eye, but at the end of the film you still don't know that much about him.

Charlie Wilson's War

Writer Aaron Sorkin knows how to make smart sexy. One might say he brought sexy smart back. Then again, one might not. Either way, his career has shown this sexiness comes with diminishing returns. He started off great ("A Few Good Men"), and then got better (season one of "The West Wing"), and then was just great again (season two of "The West Wing"), then was pretty good (season three), then just good (season four), and then not so good ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"). So coming into this movie, one expects it to be as sexy as the liner notes to Madonna's new CD, "Hard Candy." (If you haven't seen the liner notes, let me just say this: they're not that sexy.)

But "Charlie Wilson's War" turns out to be pretty good, on par with season three of "The West Wing." I have to say, though, I have no idea how it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical. Nobody sings, and it's not funny. I liked it because it showed an overlooked part of history and, unlike most movies, this one actually has a thesis: it was a good idea to give money to the muj to defeat the Soviets, but the US went wrong by not building schools and helping them out after the Soviets left.

Syndromes and a Century

This Thai film is so god am bad it makes "I Know Who Killed Me" seem like a two-star Woody Allen film. It was well reviewed, but then, so was "Juno," so that doesn't mean much. Thai censors wanted a few scenes cut from the film -- images of a monk strumming a guitar and a doctor kissing his girlfriend. What's amazing is that the Thai government paid someone enough money to sit through this film to see if anything should be cut.

The filmmaker described the movie as being about change and how people transform themselves. And watching it got me thinking about change. How if this was on TV, I could change the channel. But since it's a movie, all I can do is stop watching it, or just scream at the TV, "Turn the pange!"

Miami Vice

Another great Michael Mann movie about men and their toys. Like other Mann films (especially "Collateral"), it's beautifully filmed. But "Miami Vice" is shot digitally, giving it a saturated and vivid look and a high contrast deep-focus look, where you see the fore- and background with the same intensity. At least, that's what someone said on the bonus features. But unlike Mann's other work, to appreciate this one you have to sit through terribly delivered lines.

Another aspect of the film I like is how much terminology you'll pick up if you watch it. You'll learn words and acronyms like SAC, CI, HRT weapons team, Aryan Brotherhood (the ABs), Mongols, Nazi Low Riders, QTH, op sec, counterintel, transpo, FLIR images, go-fast boats, AWACS, OCDETF, AUC, avgas, Adam A500s, Caravelles, 727s, ADO, L-shaped ambush, and of course, peckerwood proxies.

Black Snake Moan

A recently jilted and spiritually revived bluesman chains a nympho to his heater to treat her condition. Of course, the musician's black and the young girl is white, so there's a racial element here as well, but it's for the most part unaddressed. Director Craig Brewer might be trying to develop a new genre of film, Southern Gothic Nouveau, but this film is no "Hustle & Flow." But then, what is? It is, however, definitely, the better of Samuel L. Jackson's "Snake" movies.

Vanishing Point

This is one of the movies referenced at least 50 times in "Death Proof," most notably because it features the Dodge Challenger car the characters use to play Ship's Mast. It's pretty stupid and pointless, but I can see how certain segments of the film community might find it appealing.

Ghostbusters 2

As Lance from "Pulp Fiction" might have put it, if "Ghostbusters" is like Panda, then this is like Bava: "Different, but equally good."

8 Women

A French murder mystery set during a retreat to a country manor. At this retreat are -- wait for it -- 8 women, plus a dead guy. The Netflix reviews I read compared it to "Gosford Park," so it seems everyone forgot about "The Rules of the Game" and "Clue" like everyone forgot about Dre. It's a mystery, but also a musical, so every once in a while, everyone starts singing like it's Bollywood Time, except with really limited blocking and direction. That makes this a musical for people who don't know anything about musicals. This is the last time I listen to a recommendation from a crazy guy in a video store who talks incessantly (seriously -- if he wasn't talking to someone, he was talking to himself) and uses phrases like "Fourth Wall-ish."

Lars and the Real Girl

Lars (Ryan Gosling) is socially awkward and lives in a small town. And boy does he get some looks when he starts dating a blow-up, life-size love doll. Perhaps it's the only way he could deal with breaking up with Rachel McAdams. The townspeople, in a move only available in movies, play along because they like Lars that much. They think to help someone with this mental illness, or whatever it is Lars has, they should treat Bianca, the doll, like a real person and talk to her and comb her hair and ask her to read to children. Remember, this is a doll. I'm not sure who's more insane, Lars or the townspeople who treat the doll like a real person, even when Lars is not around. Throughout the movie, Gosling has an innocence in his love for this doll that is either sincere and sweet or really creepy.

I'm not sure what to make of the film -- sweet or creepy -- but that's an issue with the story more than the acting and directing, which were better than average. And against all odds, it maintains its pitch-perfect tone throughout, despite its weird-ass premise. It's played more serious than funny, closer to "Far From Heaven" than "Pumpkin." Now that I think of it, the extremely edgy "Pumpkin" was hilarious. And maybe this is the side of me that's not at all uncomfortable being one of five men at a sold-out Justin Timberlake concert, but I'm a Gosling fan. Even so, I still have no plans to see "The Notebook."

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Most movies that start in flagrante delicto have a hard time keeping up the pace. And the genre of low-key, procedural crime-gone-wrong stories have a strong pedigree: think "Alpha Dog" and "Fargo." So from the outset, this film -- which features both these traits -- has tough competition. But I think it does the job. Two brothers need money, so they decide to rob a mom-and-pop jewelry store, owned coincidentally by their mom and pop. What ensues makes a viewer aware of several things: Ethan Hawke is actually a decent actor; Marisa Tomei doesn't mind getting nekkid; and the Iranian film "Crimson Gold" is not the only film about a jewelry store robbery that reveals underlying truths about our society. Quite an engaging story.

Grindhouse

A contest between two filmmakers -- who can make the better film that features a brief appearance by Quentin Tarantino? The rub is that whenever Tarantino is onscreen, the movie comes to a complete standstill. Robert Rodriguez wins! People who think just anybody can act in a movie should watch these films; Tarantino demonstrates the error of their views. Among the other reasons why Rodirguez's film is better: he shows more than a lot of pointless dialogue. From now on, Tarantino should only make films that he himself has not written.

I've known Kurt Russell was a great actor since "Breakdown," but to see the birth of Rose McGowan as an action star in "Planet Terror" is exciting to watch. Watching them back-to-back, one also notices that both feature the character Doctor Block in the same hospital, one of the same cops, the character Jungle Julia (referred to on the radio in "Planet Terror"), and Rose McGowan.

The release of "Grindhouse" on DVD also illustrates American commercialism at its finest. The movie in theaters was several fake previews and both movies. But as if they're punishing people for not seeing it in theaters, if we want to buy it, we have to buy both separately, and we don't get to see all the previews. If everything that was shown in theaters was on one disc, you'd have a nice little package, despite some flaws. As it stands, I'm going to not buy it in order to punish them for not releasing it on one disc.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

The spoof is an artistically bankrupt genre. The whole point of every scene is to make the viewer say, "Oh, this is like that one movie, except here a few things are different." How is that funny? It's usually not. This film too is usually not funny. The most memorable moments are provided by -- a tad surprisingly -- Tim Meadows. And the rest of the movie just made me think about how incestuous the comedy scene is these days. It's the same jokes by the same actors over and over, and I wish they would try new people sometimes.

Into the Wild

The premise is like a line from the SNL fake ad for Bad Idea jeans. A bunch of guys are sitting on a bench by a basketball court, all wearing jeans with the label Bad Idea. One says, "I've thought about it, and even though it's over, I'm going to tell my wife about the affair." Then the screen flashes: Bad Idea. Another says, "I was going to wear a condom, but then I thought, when am I going to be in Haiti again?" Bad Idea. Then this guy would say, "I'm going to live in Alaska, alone, though I know nothing about hunting and foraging, and I've only been able to survive as a homeless person for the last year because other people have helped me out, and there won't be anyone to help me in Alaska." Bad Idea.

It's the myopic, self-indulgent, credulous true story of a young man who wants to "live off the land for a few months" in Alaska, which I guess includes living in an abandoned bus with a bed and stove and other amenities. And we're supposed to believe he's sane. It's filmed like an inspirational story ("Be this guy"), but to me it seems like it'd make more sense if it were a cautionary tale ("Don't be this guy"). Maybe it should have been a comedy, starring Will Ferrell. Imagine the scenes of him being excited about crossing water, and then he jumps out because it's too cold. Or he's excited about communing with nature, but then he realizes nature sucks and it can kill you. Or maybe they could have spliced it with scenes from the BBC "Planet Earth" series. Imagine Will Ferrell excited to find a cave, but then he sees it's filled with bats, cockroaches, and a mountain of guano. That would have been better.

There's also a scene of the hero watching Papa Bush speak on the Persian Gulf War. I guess Penn is suggesting an alternative to our current overseas excursion is to stick your head in the sand and do nothing productive. That reminds me of a Deep Thought: "To me, it's a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, 'Hey, can you give me a hand?' You can say, 'Sorry, got these sacks.'" Similarly, a good way to avoid doing anything in life is to say, "Sorry, got to life off the land."

And ultimately, I'm not sure what the point of the film is. Part of it is how glorious this guy's life is on the road. The other part is his sister saying how screwed up he is because of his parents. So is he doing this trek because it's the right thing to do, or because it's a reaction to his childhood? Pick one, Sean. I'm not so sure about the rest of the directing, either. "Hey, Emile," says Penn, "why don't you walk around and we'll film you? Hey Emile, keep walking and we'll keep filming you. Act like you're listening to Eddie Vedder moaning. I didn't say stop walking. Now scream, 'I'm Supertramp!'" Sean Penn thought of it as a way to show an anti-materialistic way of life, how money ruins our lives. But I'm skeptical of someone who claims, "I don't need money," and then lives off the money and generosity of other people.

What it comes down to is, I think I didn't like this film because I don't like hippies.

Water Dripping from Burning Rocks

One of the Frenchest films I've ever seen, even though it's written by a German: men who fancy themselves Jules and Jim, with benefits; a young man with an impossibly unmuscular physique; a deceptively plain-looking woman (Ludivine Sagnier) who is not so plain-looking when she does what women do in French movies; people who talk of their love for the theater and art and philosophy, while at the same time not saying anything interesting about the theater or art or philosophy. As I said, it's very, very French. All it's lacking is a Godardian French New Wave verve. Overall, though, it's -- how you say, ah yes -- ok.

Lions for Lambs

A story of the War on Terror/Iraq as seen through the eyes of a professor, a reporter, a politician, and some soldiers tells you nothing you don't know if you've read the paper today, or yesterday, or last year. Skip it.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

This was made in 1948, so it's a classic. Plus it has the classic line, "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges." It makes you wonder, why is that a classic line? I don't have an answer for that. Good movie, though.

The Boxer

Another Daniel Day-Lewis and Jim Sheridan flick, this one about a boxer released from prison who tries to go straight, but his IRA connections keep nagging at him. Day-Lewis wants to box and nothing more, standing as the voice of reason, a stoic equivalent of Michael DeLuise in "Encinco Man" yelling, "Shoosh!" to the IRA hotheads. In that sense he's like Cutty in season three of "The Wire." Not as good as "In the Name of the Father."

Duel

A '70s-era Spielberg take on the car chase movie. A normal guy in a car irritates the driver of a big rig, and road rage ensues. "Joyride" is a nice little update of this gem, which is probably one of the 500 films that influenced Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof." There's only so much you can do in a car chase film; other than countless scenes of one car gaining on the other, a driver looking in his rearview mirror, and sudden swerves, there's not much to do. But Spielberg manages to do a lot here.

The Believer

Ryan Gosling is a Jewish neo-Nazi. He's, shall we say, conflicted. It's like a well executed, serious version of the Dave Chappelle skit about Clayton Bigsby, aka the Black White Supremacist. As the film goes on, Gosling's angst increases, as if he were just waiting for someone like Dr. Tobias Funke to talk to him man-on-man and tell him, "I think you hate White Power Bill." The film wrestles with universal themes of acceptance, regret, pride, and growing up that should resonate with people, even if they're neither fascist nor Jewish. I like Gosling ("Fracture," "Half Nelson"), and I'd like to preserve that opinion of him, so I plan to refrain from ever seeing "The Notebook."

Mala Noche

"Mala Noche" is Spanish for "bad night." I'll use it in a sentence: Last night I saw this film, so I had a mala noche. There's this guy, a liquor store clerk, who hangs out with two underage Mexican boys living in Portland, and the clerk is infatuated with one of them. We know this because the clerk fancies himself a poet, but since his prose barely reaches the level of a reject third-rate beat poet, he's not sympathetic or interesting. Though there are moments toward the end that remind me of Wong Kar-wai's vastly superior "Happy Together," for the most part I see the film as a precursor to "Old Joy" and "The Puffy Chair" and other terrible, pretentious, modern experiments in testing the viewer's patience. Whenever I see a really low-budget movie (like this one), I think how "El Mariachi" was made for less than $10,000. And that's a great movie. And the latter "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies had huge budgets, and they were terrible. The budget is not an excuse.

Angel Heart

Note to self: watch this again. Not right now, but sometime. Mickey Rourke as a gumshoe in the '50s (which looks a lot like the '80s, when this was made). Robert De Niro as the mysterious client, Louis Cypher (say it out loud, fast, and it gives something away). Lisa Bonet as a young sumthin' from New Orleans who doesn't mind dancing near a fire while she strips and drips chicken blood all over her. It also sets a creepy tone with a devil-in-Helsinki motif like "The Ninth Gate" and recurring images like whirring fans, broken mirrors, and an elevator going a symbolic direction. Not the best movie, and they could have shaved off about twenty minutes without losing anything, but they put some thought into it, and these days, you can't expect much more than that.

In the Name of the Father

The Troubles in Ireland and Britain during the '70s is the backdrop of this true story of terrorism, overzealous officers of the law, confessions extracted through torture, kangaroo courts, and innocent people imprisoned. This is the second of three collaborations between director Jim Sheridan and actor Daniel Day-Lewis. I think all will agree it was a more successful artistic relationship than when Sheridan and 50 Cent made "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," another film about a man in prison. Emma Thompson is the lawyer who saves the day. This and "Stranger Than Fiction" makes two recent films where I've really liked her. But, in looking at all the movies she's made, I actually haven't seen that many of them. Perhaps that should be a project of mine.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Well, it's a musical. Every time it starts to build some kind of momentum, people start singing for no reason and it all goes to pot. Musicals are such a worthless genre of film, I wonder why people continue to make them. I think some people consider the lyrics witty, but it's wordplay for wordplay's sake and nothing more. And the music's not great: brassy and offbeat and grating. It's a waste of talented actors, fine sets, and on-screen blood (though not as much as I was led to believe).