DVDs In Recent Release

"Take myself, subtract movies, and the result is zero"
- Akira Kurosawa

We here at film babble are ignoring supposed big summer blockbusters like THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW & TROY to focus on smaller fare like SUPER SIZE THIS and COFFEE AND CIGARETTES. We're just those kinda geeks I guess. Anyway we got lots of movie babble-blurbs and lots of crazy-ass-action to let's get to it.

DVDS IN RECENT RELEASE

RIPLEY'S GAME (2002) Dir. Liliana Cavana. Decent sturdy thriller but it could use a little more wit. Many lines are basic and stiff. Which is a surprise considering these are based on Patricia Highsmith's wickedely witty Tom Ripley novels. John Malkovich plays the same character that Matt Damon did in THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999) but as somebody on the message board on IMDB stresses this is not a sequel. Dennis Hopper also tackled the character in Wim Wender's THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977). A dry dull game Ripley plays this time around.
- Bertie Shaffer

OSAMA (2003)Dir. Siddiq Barmak. Beautiful but disturbing as Hell. The basic line that this is the first movie made in Afganistan since Taliban fell is news enough but to experience this movie is to witness as harrowing a depiction of oppression and indignity that's ever graced the silver screen. Marina Golbahari plays the title character - a 12 year old girl firced to pose as a boy in order to support her hungry mother and grandmother. The ruse doesn't last long and she is exiled to a worse fate. Watch at your own peril.
- Sarah Warner

MONSTER (2003) Dir. Patty Jenkins. Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her portrayal of Aileen Carol Wuornos a Floridian serial killing prostitute who had been exectued in 2002. Argubly she derserved to win because as Roger Ebert and many other critics gushed she completely inhabits the role and it's fascinating to watch. Unfortunately the movie that houses Wournos' story is uneven and routinely presented. There are many effective moments like when teen lesbian Christina Ricci and Theron go roller skating and fall in love with each other to the tune of Jounrey's "Don't Stop Believing" (yep, they're just that kind of 80's white trash) so ultimately I recommend it. For footage of the real Wuornos check out Nick Broomfield's (yes the twit who made the silly docs BIGGIE AND TUPAC and KURT AND COURTNEY) AILEEN : LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER. Watching that or MONSTER will make you want to take a shower and that's a film babble gurantee.
- Bertie Shaffer

ELEPHANT (2003) Dir. Gus Vant Sant. A meditation on a Columbine style high school shooting that feels anticlimatic and left me short. The look and feel is convincing but ultimately this is a afterthought project with a muddled sense of purpose. Nice acting though from a cast of unknowns - Alex Frost and John Robinson particularly.
- Anderson Moran

21 GRAMS Dir. Alexandro Gonzalez Inarritu. From the same team responsible for AMORES PERROS (2000). For a movie that got a few Oscar nominations and a round of good critical notices this flick seems to have been thrown onto DVD with the same loving care as GIGLI - no extras per say. Not even a trailer except for other films (I hate that). The story here is 3 characters whose destinys of course intertwine and unsurprisingly is told out of sequence. How Indy! You have to pay close attention to absord the subtle details so that may lose a bunch of viewers right off. If that doesn't the grainy washed out film stock might. So anyway this goes back and forth in time the narrative surrounding an automobile accident killing a man and his 2 daughters and the aftermath his widow(Naomi Watts)faces as a haggard pale proffesor (Sean Penn) is in need of a heart thansplant. Benecio Del Toro plays an ex-convict whos to blame for the accident. Any more I would tell you would give away this film's secrets. Basically this is Penn, Del Toro and Watts embroiled together in a tale of intrigue and blood! Almost poetic. And as Chris Guest said in A MIGHTY WIND - "Almost."
- Daniel Cook Johnson

EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS - BBC 2002 Dir. Kenneth Bowser.

"When Blake said that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom...it also leads to the grave" - Kris Kristofferson

William H. Macy's narration delicately explains one of the greatest or at least most interesting film making eras in this documentary adaptation of Peter Biskind's bestseller. Covering the same material and even sharing a number of the same film clips as DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE the story should be familliar to film babble blog readers. Simply put to those just tuning in - the French new wave headed by Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard influenced a band of movie brat outsiders who broke into the studio system after years of B-movie exile. Maverick cheapie teen-expoitation king Roger Corman mentored Peter Bogdonovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorcese, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper and countless others to become the "New Hollywood". They made what were called "Now movies" like BONNIE AND CLYDE, EASY RIDER, THE GODFATHER, MEAN STREETS, and HAROLD AND MAUDE to name 5. By the mid 70's the careers of many of the principle players were in decline while these straight laced film nerds from Malibu - Steven Spielberg and George Lucas cleaned up with JAWS and STAR WARS which this thesis proposes was the end of the era. Whether or not that's true we get many fascinating anecdotes about crazy set antics, infidelities, and of course more stories about that damn mechanical shark. Good stuff indeed. Check out the cool DVD bonus interviews with many of the targeted directors and actors plus a realing talk with author Biskind. Required viewing for all film babble blog students.
- Daniel Cook Johnson

"Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion." - Kitty Farmer played by Beth Grant (DONNIE DARKO 2001)

More later...