October 2005 Reviews

56. Jeeves and Wooster-- A. Episodes from the 1990 BBC TV series, based on the P.G. Wodehouse novels and short stories. Extremely faithful to the original stories (I have read all of them), hysterical, great acting, terrific sets and costumes. If you like Rumpole of the Bailey (another A series), Jeeves is for you.
57. The Agronomist-- A. Reminded me quite a bit of Hotel Rwanda. Documentary about the man who started an independent radio station in Haiti about 25 years ago. He was persecuted by the Duvaliers and their Tonton Macoutes goons; fled the country, returned with Aristide, and was ultimately killed (most likely by Aristide's henchmen). Quite depressing, but a great intro to Haiti's recent history, and without gratuitous Sandinista sympathies.
58. Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit-- A-. Let's not get too carried away: it's a great claymation spectacle, but not a candidate for best picture. I liked it, Lauren loved it. Terrific fun.
59. Bang Rajan-- B. A Thai village resists the Burmese invasion in the 18th century. Just amazing how brutal war was, even before modern killing technology. Women, children, the old and infirm--all were slaughtered or enslaved. May not be a necessary component of a Saturday night's diversion, but interesting if you are so inclined.
60. Kontroll-- B. Shot entirely in the Budapest subway system, it has all the elements of film noire: gritty, modern, dark, amoral. Variety of interesting characters, with an overhang of post-Communist depression. And the love interest wears a teddy bear Halloween costume for most of the movie. Even so, I just couldn't lose myself in the movie. A fine first effort for writer/director Nimrod Antal, but I suggest you wait until he has worked out the kinks.
53. Darkness-- B-. Anna Paquin is mildly diverting, and Giancarlo Giannini appears as the evil grandfather. Giannini has had a long, distinguished career (mostly Italian flims, but also A Walk in the Clouds, Hannibal, Man on Fire), so it's disappointing to see him wasted in this dreck.
54. The Flaming Lips: The Fearless Freaks-- C. I had never heard of the band before, but I was gulled into renting the movie by a friendly review. The film seems like a home movie, of interest primarily to people in the band, or maybe those who went to high school with them. Since I am in neither category, I shut it off after 40 minutes. "Capturing The Friedmans" it isn't.
55. Bright Leaves-- C+. A documentary about a town in the South where they grow a lot of tobacco. The auteur's grandfather had a large tobacco business, got outflanked by the Dukes (Winston, Salem, Duke U., etc.), went bankrupt. No arc, no characters; I think the title means "once this movie starts, the bright viewer leaves."
58. Hotel-- B-. I rented the flick because Mike Figgis directed (he did "Leaving Las Vegas," remember?). It is amazing this film was financed. Having been financed, it is amazing that it was released. But what is absolutely astounding is that bankable names (Salma Hayek, David Schwimmer, Lucy Liu, John Malkovich, Ornella Muti, even Burt Reynolds!) wander in and out of a highly experimental movie with zero box office potential. There is no discernible plot, it is hard to keep the characters straight, and the screen splits into four pieces with different subplots happening in parallel. This film has elements of almost every genre (horror, mystery, romance, comedy, noir, porn). The only genre not represented seems to be the American Western--it would have been nice to have Clint Eastwood do a cameo. 9 out of 10 people will hate this film, 1 will love it... so you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'