My November 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

Good Neighbors 1-3:2 11/29/05 (B)
Death Becomes Her 11/28/05
It's Easier for a Camel 11/21/05
Little Voice 11/21/05 (B)
Napoleon Dynamite 11/15/05 (B)
A Walk in the Clouds 11/14/05 (B)
Melinda and Melinda 11/10/05 (C)
Simple Twist of Fate 11/08/05
Jack and Sarah 11/07/05
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells 11/03/05 (C+)
Millions 11/03/05 (B)

My October 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

CSI 4:4 10/31/05 (C+)
Crash 10/25/05 (A)
Good Neighbors 1-3:1 10/24/05 (B)
Palindromes 10/21/05
Empire Falls Part 1 10/17/05 (B)
Empire Falls Part 2 10/17/05 (B)
Jiminy Glick in La La Wood 10/13/05 (D)
House of D 10/12/05 (C)

Crash (2005)

Powerful Intense Compelling

Over the span of 36 hours, several people come in dramatic contact with each other and their lives are changed forever. These humans crash with each other in ways that make us all see how prejudice, ignorance, and misunderstanding affect our very lives.

A superb film to watch to study filmmaking, too -- fascinating juxtapositions, segues, camera angles, lighting, and nuances.

Outstanding musical score gives a real pulse to the story.

Cast includes: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Dashon Howard, Ludacris, Thandie Newton, David K, Ryan Phillippe, Tony Danza and Bruno Kirby's father.

Written and directed by Paul Haggis (who also wrote the fabulous Million Dollar Baby).

Rated R for language, sexual content and some violence.

---

viewed Oct-2005

Empire Falls (2005)

Superb Cast

Miles Roby (Ed Harris) is a rather timid restaurant manager in Empire Falls, Maine. The restaurant is owned by the wealthiest woman in town (Joanne Woodward) who is heavily into power and control.

Miles is trying his hardest to get his life in order while also dealing with his ne'er do well father (a wonderfully scruffy Paul Newman) and his obnoxious ex-wife (Helen Hunt) who left Miles for an equally obnoxious gym owner (Dennis Farina). He's dedicated to his teen daughter Tick (Danielle Panabaker) who is trying to untangle from a controlling, obnoxious boyfriend Zack (Trevor Morgan). Zack's father is the controlling, obnoxious cop Jimmy Minty (William Fichtner) who is set to make Miles Roby's life uncomfortable. In the meantime, Tick befriends John, a sadly disturbed classmate (Lou Taylor Pucci) who is harassed constantly by Zack.

See a trend here about Miles and Tick's need to free themselves of controlling, obnoxious people?

Miles' ex-mother-in-law Bea (Estelle Parsons) and long-time waitress Charlene (Theresa Russell) are his biggest supporters while his brother David (Aidan Quinn) tries to support him but also has his own issues to work around.

Throughout the story, Miles' deceased mother (Robin Wright Penn) and her paramour (Philip Seymour Hoffman) appear in flashbacks that fill in details of Miles' life and the history of Empire Falls.

A two-DVD set; an HBO mini-series, directed by Fred Schepisi.

My personal rating: B

My September 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

Taxi 2:3 09/08/05 (B)
Sordid Lives 09/08/05
Six Feet Under 4:5 09/06/05 (C+)

My August 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

Six Feet Under 4:4 08/31/05 (C+)
Six Feet Under 4:3 08/30/05 (C+)
Six Feet Under 4:2 08/29/05 (C+)
Six Feet Under 4:1 08/26/05 (C+)
Always 08/25/05
Taxi 2:2 08/23/05 (B)
Taxi 1:3 08/22/05 (B)
Grand Canyon 08/19/05 (B)
An Everlasting Piece 08/16/05
Moonlighting 1&2:5 08/15/05 (B-)
The Clearing 08/09/05 (B)
CSI 3:5 08/08/05 (C+)
Moonlighting 1&2:4 08/05/05 (B-)
The Upside of Anger 08/03/05 (B)
Monk 3:4 08/01/05 (B)

My July 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

Moonlighting 1&2:3 07/27/05 (B-)
Around the Bend 07/26/05 (B)
Serendipity 07/25/05 (C+)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven 07/22/05 (C)
Monk 3:3 07/22/05 (B)
Kinsey 07/18/05 (B)
Monk 3:2 07/18/05 (B)
Rare Birds 07/14/05 (C+)
Million Dollar Baby 07/14/05 (A)
Monk 3:1 07/11/05 (B)
Moonlighting 1&2:2 07/11/05 (B)
Taxi 1:2 07/11/05 (B)CSI 4:2 07/06/05 (C+)
White Oleander 07/05/05 (B-)

Around the Bend (2005)

Life, Death, and Kentucky Fried Chicken

This is the story of four generations of Lair men: Michael Caine as the patriarch, Christopher Walken as his son, Josh Lucas as his grandson, and young Jonah Bobo as his great-grandson. It's a funny / tender / sad / poignant tale of cycles / rituals / obligations / family / life / death / KFC.

Can the Lairs relationships be salvaged after decades of poor communication and failed expectations?

Fabulous sound track with the talent of Warren Zevon, Tom Waits, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Harry Nilsson and others.

Favorite line from the film: "Some of us are more broken than others."

Directed by Jordan Roberts.

Rated R for language.

My personal rating: B.

Rare Birds (2001)

When All Fails, Make Omelets

William Hurt is such an odd, brooding dude, but I've enjoyed him in so many different movies that I tried this one. Hurt plays Dave, a chef/restaurateur in a very isolated area on Newfoundland's coast.

Though Dave is not divorced, the marriage is as cragy as his own backyard and his wife (Vicky Hynes) has moved to Washington, DC.

His restaurant, The Auk, is failing badly -- so badly that he doesn't even bother to cook anything because he knows no one is coming anyhow.

His friend 'Phonse (Andy Jones) hatches a plan to boost business by claiming the sighting of a near extinct duck in the wild waters down rocky crags from the restaurant. One thing turns into another -- including a stash of cocaine, a recreational submarine, and a beguiling waitress (Molly Parker) -- and it gets pretty convoluted but still wryly funny.

Hurt remains brooding to the end but I mostly enjoyed this film.

Director: Sturla Gunnarsson. This Canadian film was shot in Newfoundland.

Rated R for language and drug use.

My June 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

Moonlighting 1&2:1 06/30/05 (B)
Six Feet Under 3:5 06/27/05 (B-)
One True Thing 06/27/05
State and Main 06/24/05 (C+)
Six Feet Under 3:4 06/21/05 (B-)
Outside Providence 06/20/05
Six Feet Under 3:3 06/14/05 (B-)
Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her 06/14/05
Beyond the Sea 06/13/05 (B)
CSI 4:1 06/07/05 (C+)
A Thousand Acres 06/06/05 (B-)
Hanging Up 06/06/05
The Life & Death of Peter Sellers 06/01/05 (C)
The Royal Tenenbaums 06/01/05 (B-)
Six Feet Under 3:2 06/01/05 (B-)

The Royal Tenenbaums (1996)

Dissecting Dysfunction

The Tenenbaum's -- Royal (Gene Hackman) and Etheline (Anjelica Huston) -- are a long-separated couple who never divorced. Their three children were proteges in their childhood years -- a financial wizard, a playwright and a tennis pro.

But, as the narrator (Alec Baldwin) says: "All memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums has been erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster."

The oldest son, Chas (Ben Stiller), becomes neurotic. The daughter, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), becomes psychotic. And the youngest son, Richie (Luke Wilson), isolates himself.

The three grew up next door to Eli Cash (Owen Wilson, who also co-wrote the script), a full-of-himself author who gets terrible reviews. He weaves throughout the story.

Though the thought of these three lost souls sounds like it will be a sad film, it is, in fact, quite full of humor, albeit bizarre at times and with its own unique poignancy.

When the scoundrel Royal finds out sweet Etheline is seriously dating (Danny Glover), he wants to worm his way back into the family.

Terrific soundtrack: "Hey, Jude", Jackson Brown's "These Days," Bob Dylan's "Wigwam," Paul Simon's "Me and Julio," and several classical pieces.

A very interesting study of the dysfunctional family dynamic -- with a twist. Directed by Wes Anderson.

Rated R for some language, sexuality/nudity and drug content.

My personal rating: B

My May 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

The Aviator 05/27/05 (A)
The Big Kahuna 05/27/05 (C+)
Ocean's Twelve 05/24/05 (B-)
Six Feet Under 3:1 05/23/05 (C+)
In Good Company 05/23/05
Taxi 1:1 05/20/05 (B)
Alfie (1966) 05/19/05 (B)
Interstate 60 05/17/05 (D)
Racing Stripes 05/17/05 (B-)
Garden State 05/09/05
Alfie (2004) 05/02/05 (C)
Six Feet Under 2:5 05/02/05 (B-)

Alfie (1966)

.
Michael Caine is Alfie!

This quintessential '60s film actually holds up better than many from that era.

A swinging young Englishman lives for sex. He has any number of "birds" and loves his swinging lifestyle. His true mettle is tested when he finds he's fathered a child.

Also starring Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin. Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Shirley Anne Field, Vivien Merchant, Eleanor Bron, Denholm Elliott.

Directed by Lewis Gilbert.

Run time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

My personal rating: B

Alfie (2004)

Thirty-eight years later, this is a pretty good remake of the original Alfie (reviewed elsewhere on this blog).

Jude Law is the Cockney womanizer with a cast including Renée Taylor. Jane Krakowski, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Rahm, Omar Epps, Nia Long, Tara Summers.

Directed by Charles Shyer.

Run time: 1 hr, 43 minutes.

Rated R for sexual content, some language and drug use.

My personal rating: B-

My April 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

Box of Moonlight 04/29/05
Six Feet Under 2:4 04/26/05 (B-)
Meet the Fockers 04/26/05 (B-)
The Woodsman 04/20/05 (A-)
Spanglish 04/18/05 (C-)
The Brothers McMullen 04/13/05 (C)
Six Feet Under 2:2 04/06/05 (B-)
Vera Drake 04/04/05 (A-)
Ray 04/04/05 (B)

My March 2005 Viewings

Includes my personal ratings.
Recommended DVDs in bold.

Closer 03/31/05
Being Julia 03/29/05 (C+)
Finding Neverland 03/28/05 (B-)
Six Feet Under 2:1 03/28/05 (B-)
Seinfeld 1&2:3 03/22/05 (B)
Flirting with Disaster 03/22/05
Eulogy 03/22/05
Election 03/18/05
CSI 3:3 03/15/05 (C)
View from the Top 03/15/05
Stealing Sinatra 03/11/05 (C)
Adaptation 03/02/05

My February 2005 Viewings

Recommended DVDs marked with *. Underlined titles link to review.

* Six Feet Under 1:4 02/28/05 (B-)
I Heart Huckabees 02/28/05 (C-)
Everyone Says I Love You 02/22/05
* Monk 2:3 02/22/05 (B)
* Six Feet Under 1:3 02/21/05 (B)
Hope Floats 02/15/05
Life or Something Like It 02/15/05
* Kill Bill: Vol. 2 02/14/05 (B+)
* Six Feet Under 1:2 02/09/05 (B)
* One Hour Photo 02/08/05 (B)
Home Fries 02/08/05
House of the Spirits 02/04/05
You Can Count on Me 02/04/05

13/23/182

My January 2005 Viewings

Recommended DVDs marked with *. Underlined titles link to review.

* Monk 2:2 01/31/05 (B)
* Six Feet Under 1:1 01/27/05 (B)
Zoolander 01/25/05 (F)
Swimming with Sharks 01/24/05
Punch-Drunk Love 01/20/05 (D)
* Monk 2:1 01/20/05 (B)
The Dinner Game 01/14/05
Thomas in Love 01/11/05
* Seinfeld 1&2:2 01/11/05 (B)
Meet the Parents 01/03/05 (B-)

10/10/169