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Originally posted by Graham Watt:
Although I have no time, I did waste 204 minutes of my life today watching Michael Jackson's THE RETURN OF THE KING, and I'm sorry, I really seriously didn't think it was very good. It didn't involve me at all (I kept thinking "Who are these people, why are they doing what they're doing, why are they saying what they're saying?" I obviously missed the point. Not bad Howie Shore score, but still absurdly over-rated. Most of it struck me as being somewhat unimaginative, but I did like that solo cello bit, and the bits that were like John Barry.

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I agree... kind of. I mean I understood it and everything, and it's an amazing cinematic achievement, but the series isn't that good and is, like you said, absurdly over-rated. Most of the music I liked was the themes from the first 2 films and then the theme from Into The West. BUT I HATE THAT SONG!!! Well I don't hate it, it's just not very good.

Last week I caught up with Jim Jarmsuch's compilation film Coffee & Cigarettes, a collection of 11 shorts that all have coffee and cigarettes in common (except for the one with Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan - they're English, so they drink tea). A few of the shorts are pointless and do nothing but waste time, and most of them are just okay, but I think the whole experience is worth the price of admission just for the few that are outstanding.

The best one is definitely the meeting between Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, in which Molina has called Coogan up to tell him he's discovered they're distant relatives. Molina is a sincere, eager teddy-bear type of character while Coogan is cool, more stuck-up and visibly uninterested in the whole scenario (as in most of these shorts, the actors are playing fictionalized versions of themselves). This short is both the funniest and most honest of the bunch, and the actors are both outstanding in it.

Also great is the segment in which Cate Blanchett plays dual roles, herself and a fictional cousin, and there's a fantastic short that documents a meeting in a bar between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits (this one was filmed in 1993 and won the Palme d'Or for best short that year at Cannes). The closing piece with Bill Race and Taylor Mead is also wonderful. The rest are mostly mediocre, though a short that puts GZA and RZA of the Wu Tang Clan in the same coffee shop as Bill Murray succeeds almost solely for the reason that Bill Murray couldn't avoid being entertaining even if he tried.

The black-and-white cinematography, shot at various times by Tom DiCillo, Frederick Elmes, Ellen Kuras and Robby Muller, is good throughout, the Tom Waits/Iggy Pop and Bill Rice/Taylor Mead segments being the most impressive.

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (2003)
Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Starring a boatload of people

Kirk
NP - Return of the King (*****)

Every person I've told about this film has asked me the same question: "How interesting can a movie about a guy eating McDonald's for a month be?" Actually, the film is about more than one guy eating McDonald's. Intercut with that quest is information about the McDonald's company, examinations of things like the healthiness of school lunch programs and the advertisement and lobbying practices of the major food companies, and a whole bunch of other stuff that's just plain funny. Morgan Spurlock has a really subversive sense of humor which comes to fruition in a scene where he shows you graphic (very graphic) footage of a stomach-stapling operation edited to Strauss's Blue Danube waltz.

That's the kind of mentality this film has. It's a funny, inspirational and very important film that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

SUPER SIZE ME (2003)
Written & Directed by and Starring Morgan Spurlock

Kirk
NP - Return of the King (********)

It's not that there's something wrong with the message this film tries to send at its climax - in fact I totally agree with it - but the problem is that the film doesn't deal with this message until the climax. Like Kevin Smith's Dogma (a much better film: watch that instead of this one), the idea here is that there are some Christians who focus so much on certain aspects of their faith that they lose site of the real messages that Jesus was trying to send. That's great, but pulling it out of your ass at the last minute makes it seem more like an apology. If that's the theme of the film, it should be developed throughout the entire film. As it stands, it's a very Hollywood ending (and this was an independent film).

To make matters worse, the "satire" that dominates the first half of the film is actually little more than a procession of obvious, stereotypical jokes that are quickly becoming cliches. All of the Christians in this film are ultra-conservative cheerleaders totally blind to reality. Three girls who form a music group calling themselves the "Christian Jewels" hang out after school one day doing target practice at "Emmanuel Firing Range." These are the types of jokes you'd expect to find in any Hollywood teen comedy, not in a film that thinks it's examining some real issues.

That's not to say there aren't bright spots. Jena Malone is charming and easily likeable as ever. Eva Amurri (who I hadn't seen or heard of before this film) is fantastic and has a great future. Mandy Moore does a great job, and (surprise) Macaulay Culkin is pretty good - not spectacular, but good enough that you quickly forget about him putting aftershave on his face and screaming.

Christophe Beck's score is rather nice as well. How he ended up getting typecast after Buffy as THE composer for slight teen comedies is beyond me, but at least here he got to write something that didn't automatically disappear into the ocean of forgettable scores in this genre.

SAVED! (2004)
Directed by Brian Dannelly
Written by Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban
Cinematography by Bobby Bukowski
Edited by Pamela Martin
Music by Christophe Beck
Starring Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Heather Matarazzo, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan and Mary-Louise Parker

Kirk
NP - Return of the King (the best music ever in the entire history of the known universe)

Clayton

Lots of Burton'esque stuff, the quirky americana of Sissorhands, circus freaks and the usual gothic stuff.

This film is what I would term S - T - R - E - T - C - H - E - D - !

It could have done with 30 minutes lopped off, I was entertained but I found it oddly unmoving and ultimately forgettable.

Super Size Me is about 90 minutes. I suppose not everything is edge-of-your-seat enthralling, but I was always interested in what was happening or what was being talked about. The pacing is pretty swift, I think.

It was REALLY scary.

--Brian

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Originally posted by valencia:
Is the LOTR thing true? If so, where might one find this movie? wow

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Notice he's put the icon.

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Originally posted by Crono/Kyp:
I saw a film where a crazed LOTR fan killed people who said ROTK was lame...

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You sure that was a film? Because it actually sounds like something that would happen...

Which is scary (and sad at the same time)...

WINTER LIGHT really blew me away. I love that Bergman can make such small-scale, practically motionless films so weighty and so dramatic and haunting. Gunnar Bjornstrand's performance as Tomas is subtle yet totally staggering, and the quiet conflicts that slowly unfold throughout the film are deeply, deeply gut-wrenching. This is a great example of what Robert Wise meant when I once heard him say, "Pace doesn't necessarily mean just spped. Pace is interest." Most snails could outrun WINTER LIGHT, but I was on the edge of my proverbial seat the entire time. This is now my second-favorite Bergman film (of the ones I know) behind THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY.

I wasn't quite as dumbstruck by THE SILENCE, but in no way do I intend to belittle it because of that. Only directly after watching WINTER LIGHT could THE SILENCE be considered a step down. And in any case, it's a very small step, because this is still a fantastic film. The feelings of isolation, desolation, and longing are teeming in this film, and they're all dealt with in challenging ways. The frankness of the sexuality is quite striking, and the climactic moments of Gunnel Lindblom's performance as Anna ranks with Harriet Andersson's frightening outburst in THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY. Quite, quite good.

In both films Sven Nykvist achieves images that look too good to be anything but the direct, unfiltered handiwork of a god. He paradoxically seems to create black-and-white images that have high, dramatic contrast but at the same time seem to have a dynamic range of grays. I don't know how he does it; I practically started drooling, they looked so gorgeous.

WINTER LIGHT (1963)
Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Cinematography by Sven Nykvist
Starring Gunner Bjornstrand, Max Von Sydow, Ingrid Tullin and Gunnel Lindblom

THE SILENCE (1963)
Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Cinematography by Sven Nykvist
Starring Gunnel Lindblom, Ingrid Thulin and Jorgen Lindstrom

The result is exquisitely beautiful. We're not just dealing with splices and scratches here - this film has gone through some serious chemical degradation and as a result is vibrant, beautiful yellow light that seems to be swimming across the frame. I haven't seen THE BELLS (you can get it on video and DVD, since there are good prints around) so I'm not sure exactly what was originally going on in this scene, but it appears to just be a man pulling a woman out of a ditch or a stream. But with the speed manipulation, the gorgeous yellow light and the strangely touching music by Gordon, you get the impression (or at least I got the impression) that for a moment these two people have suddenly fallen in love and suddenly begin dancing amidst these swirling color formations. Then, just as suddenly, they break apart and go their seperate ways. It's as if Morrison is saying love decays, and the good times are fleeting.

Morrison put together a 70-minute film called DECASIA which is apparently made up of lots more fottage like this (again with music by Michael Gordon). I'm really interested in seeing it now.

LIGHT IS CALLING (2004)
Directed and Edited by Bill Morrison
Music by Michael Gordon
Edited from THE BELLS (1926)
Directed by James Young
Starring Eddie Philips and Lola Todd (this scene)

Kirk
NP - To Kill a Mockingbird

But I'm not really complaining. There's a lot to like in this LADYKILLERS, not least the excellent performances from the entire supporting cast. And Tom Hanks is splendid in the lead. His Poe-quoting Goldthwait Higginson Dorr is closer to the velvety Vincent Price than Alec Guinness, an impression reinforced by the Price-like hair and wardrobe. Great fun to watch and listen to.

I have the feeling that LADYKILLERS will be considered a minor entry in the Coens' filmography just because it's so lightweight, but despite its flaws I was hugely entertained.

In amongst all the Gospel music you will notice Carter Burwell being very Burwellesque. As always, his cock-eyed approach to the material is exactly right.

LADYKILLERS (USA 2004)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen, from the original screenplay by William Rose
Photography by Roger Deakins
Music by Carter Burwell