#67 Upstream Color (2013)

The one drawback to being an "independent film" fan is that you at times are subjected to movies that really only one person thought was a good idea. I am convinced that this is the case with Upstream Color and Shane Carruth.

His movie is pretentious and boring. The sci-fi story maybe could have worked as a short story or a fantasy comic book, but the manner in which it is told on the screen makes it unwatchable. The fact that every aspect of the filmmaking process seems to have been carried out by Shane Carruth (writing, directing, producing, acting, camera, sound, music, distribution, marketing), and as he readily admitted to being a control freak over it all, I really have to find him to blame.

From the opening frame, which starts with a highly tense, dramatic soundtrack, has the objective of putting the audience into a heightened sense of emotion from the very beginning before anything has happened. What ever happened to filmmakers actually creating drama and tension with a compelling story line? The film's fans would argue that there is indeed a storyline, to which I ask why is it so poorly portrayed on the screen. There is no dialogue, no characters to root for, no story to gradually reveal itself. I'm not complaining about the far-fetchedness of the main theme of the movie, just the way in which it was turned into a movie.

The tagline for this movie (according to its official facebook page) is "A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism." And it is categorized as a drama, romance.

Romance?!! There is no romance in the story because your protagonist is a zombie. I like Amy Seimetz. I think she was very good in The Off Hours. And here, she doesn't play a bad zombie. And she's actually not bad at retrieving rocks off the bottom of a pool while reciting Thoreau poetry. But,  please tell me where is the romance in, Jeff (played by Carruth): "I'm marrying you! OK? I'm... you know, I'm marrying you, like today! We're getting married." Kris: blank stare. ?

By the end, I was just wishing it would be over already. In hindsight, I should have left but the filmmaker was in attendance and we were curious about the Q&A after the screening. 

And the climactic scene when the affected people all arrive at the pig farm to what? bond with the pigs...? I couldn't help thinking at this point that at least someone got something good out of the making of this film. Some pig farmer got to have his run-down pig farm painted by a bunch of struggling indie actors and extras. Hey Shane, just had an idea, why don't you use a still of Amy in her business casual reaching down to emotionally pet the pig (as the pig chows down on the pile of feed pellets) in your marketing campaign? I mean, how much more emotional strength could you possibly get than what is contained in that image, you know.

Really? Is this what the movie festival circuit is converting the art of cinema into? I've never actually been to a SXSW film festival or a Sundance Film Festival. I'm just curious. Do all the patrons of these events do as much drugs as the patrons to all the music festivals? It seems to me, that that is the only way that a viewing of this picture could be enjoyed or even tolerated. But kudos to Carruth for cashing in on this phenomenon. Because you know, the "song" "LEAVES EXPANDED MAY BE PREVAILING BLUE MIXED WITH YELLOW OF THE SAND" is so cool. And, it looks like this:

And Ansarr finds it Beautiful at 1:06. And I don't know why I haven't downloaded it on iTunes yet. Oh, but don't you think that "I USED TO WONDER AT THE HALO OF LIGHT AROUND MY SHADOW AND WOULD FANCY MYSELF ONE OF THE ELECT" is such a better track?

Please. The dude admitted he doesn't know very much about music and making music. But you know, that makes it all the more cooler. Only $25 for the vinyl.

He also admitted that he hasn't really been in on the film scene like for the past 6 or 7 years. Like in terms of watching movies. Good thing. We wouldn't want your "vision" to be clouded by anything else going on in the cinema world. Because, you know, your work is just that much more stunningly beautiful.

#61 Street of Chance (1942)

Directed by Jack Hively. Production: Paramount Studios.

This was an old Film Noir picture that was OK. It was clear that this was a B movie. It didn't have too interesting a story behind it. But a lot of typical Noir attributes. A man gets hit on the head, suffers an episode in which his memory suddenly changes and he doesn't know anything about his current life but only about the previous life that he disappeared from suddenly a year before. His knew (unfamiliar) life involves an attractive feisty blonde and a police detective pursuing him in regards to the murder of two wealthy associates. How the story unravels itself involves a bed-ridden mute grandmother who seems to know all the secrets and a femme fatale. A good picture to catch in the theater on a rainy day. It stars Burgess Meredith thirty years before his more famous role as Mickey, the old trainer of Rocky Balboa.

#57 Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Directed by Billy Wilder.

How lucky to get to see not one, but two absolutely classic movies in the span of 4 days! I do not have any desire to critique this movie in comparison to 8½ or perform an analysis of the two movies side-by-side or anything of the nature. In fact, these two movies seem to me to be so far apart from each other despite the iconic status that they both have deservedly received.

Sunset Boulevard is a great film for film-lovers. We saw it during the opening weekend of SIFF's "Noir City" mini-festival of restored and recovered Film Noir movies. This was easily the highlight. A digital restoration that was amazingly clear and flawless. It really made me realize that so many of the "classic oldies" seem not nearly as good as they could be because in many cases bad quality reproductions (bad sound is a huge detriment to old films or poor image quality, for example). I feel that many these films would have so much more appreciation if they could always be shown in the quality that they deserve to be shown in. 

This is a classic tale about a queen of the big screen many years past her heyday desperately awaiting her chance to become big and famous again. Norma Desmond was an icon in the silent motion picture era, but the film business has radically changed in the past 20 years. Or as she puts it in response to a comment that she used to be big, "I am big! It's the pictures that got small." 

Everything put all together about this film make it one of the all-time greats. I am happy that I got the opportunity to see it on the big screen. It is definitely one of my top ten of all time!

#55 Arcadia (2012)

By Olivia Silver.

The debut feature-length film of UCLA Film School graduate Olivia Silver starring John Hawkes. Congratulations to this young filmmaker for turning out a better than average coming-of-age story in her first feature-length film. Ryan Simpkins plays twelve year-old Greta who along with her brother and sister is being uprooted by their dad (Hawkes) in order to move the family across the country to California. Greta's disillusionment with her father and the fact that they are moving steadily grows as their journey progresses, however the fact that she is unable to find out any answers about the status of her mom (who is supposedly going to join them in California) makes her situation appear more and more desperate. There are some very nicely developed themes in this film. Greta's evolving relationship with her parents, and in particular her dad, is the main issue at hand, however the deeper story really revolves around Greta's personal growth and maturation as she struggles to find her identity as a pre-adolescent. Interwoven into the story, Silver has created some wonderful scenes of sibling bonding, which for me formed some of the best storylines that this movie contains. Greta and her younger brother Nat (played by Ryan Simpkins's real-life brother, Ty) possess a tight bond, the kind that seems most often to exist when there is a strong lack of parental involvement or emotional connection as is the case with this family, albeit primarily because of circumstances. I enjoyed this movie and also enjoyed meeting and speaking with the filmmaker following its screening at the Northwest Film Forum. Perhaps as a consolation for only receiving 3 stars from me, Silver should at least be proud that her movie appears in almost365films sandwiched between two movies that could easily be considered among the top ten of all time (8½ and Sunset Boulevard). So she's in good company!

#54 Cavalier (2013)

Directed by Steven Schardt. Written by Steven Schardt and Christian Palmer. Starring Christian Palmer.

A short film directed by a Seattle/Kentucky/New York-based filmmaker, Steven Schardt. Scotty is an alcoholic and is appearing to lose any custody he might have remaining over his 20 month-old son when he decides to kidnap him and take him on an impromptu road trip. The story, which appears to have neither a definite beginning nor end, culminates in a roadside motel where Scotty meets and entertains a fellow alcoholic in the form of a lonesome woman. I am happy that this movie and the artists involved will get some exposure at SXSW as I personally know the filmmaker. At the screening at Northwest Film Forum, it was apparent that many of the other audience members were impacted positively by this short as its concepts of divorce, fatherhood, responsibility and/or alcoholism possibly touched home more for many others than for myself.

#52 8½ (1963)

Federico Fellini.

This was the first time I ever saw this movie. And in 35mm in the theater, as well. I am so excited about this post and this movie, that every picture that I find on the internet I want to add to my post. I've restricted myself to only some of the best. Both movie posters I think are super cool. Then I have the two main actresses, Amouk Aimée, Guido's wife Luisa, and Claudia Cardinale, his muse Claudia. I also was extremely excited when I came across the animated gif of the dance scene with Mario and Gloria, which clearly was the inspiration for Tarantino's dance scene in Pulp Fiction with Travolta and Thurman, an obvious tribute to Fellini's 8½ if I ever saw one.

This movie is very difficult to write about, and I don't think I am going to try very much. I feel honestly blessed to have had the opportunity to see it in the theater even though it was a poor print and there was also a somewhat annoying older couple in the audience who laughed excessively during just about every scene. I think they were the kind of Seattlites who want to express to everybody how much they were understanding the movie by laughing at everything. You know, "we're so culturally aware and interesting. Not only do we go to 8½ in the theater, we want to make it clear that we know the film so much more than everybody else." To the point of at times repeating some phrase in italian that the character of the scene had just said with the air of like, "oh, how genius that is!" Regardless, it was impossible for me to come away from this film without thinking that it is truly one of the best films I have ever seen. And, I know that simply by its reputation as a film classic I was very hesitant to give it my approval. I guess I am very quick to think that movies are far too overrated. However, in this case, it was impossible not to adore this movie. I was completely enchanted by the actresses in this movie. Of course, the movie is about a film director struggling with his artistic voice and in particular with all the myriad women who occupy some part of his life. And Fellini does an incredible job of portraying them all. There is no way to watch this and not come away completely in love with women in all their incarnations. I was already so impressed with so many of the female characters already introduced at the point when Luisa, Guido's wife, shows up. Anouk Aimée instantly became one of my favorite actresses. And this was this first time I had ever seen her. The scene in which Guido sees her and follows her is incredible film-making at it's most basic. Her enchanting beauty and female strength was so immediately apparent to me, that I instantly fell in love with her. I was so entranced by Luisa and completely immersed by the movie that I couldn't have been rescued by anything that Fellini would do with it. And then he brought back into the picture Claudia. She had a very small shot early in the film that just gave you the idea she was going to be an insignificant extra in one of the strange dreams of Guido. But, no. He brought her back. And his portrayal of this sirena is too powerful to even try to describe in a silly blog. I only wish I could have seen the movie again immediately after it finished. Anyone who ever gets the opportunity to see this movie in the theater should legitimately feel great shame if they pass it up. I wish my meagre review could only portray a little bit how strongly I felt about this movie. 5 stars.

#46 — #47 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary (Part 2) (2012)

#46 Redemption — Jon Alpert & Matthew O'Neill

#47 Open Heart — Kief Davidson & Cori Shepherd Stern

This post gets a label of 5 stars primarily for this last film: Open Heart. I believe it will be the winner of the Oscar, and it deserves to be. It was a very touching story worth viewing for anybody. Even though it is only a short-length film and therefore harder to come-by, I recommend it over about 90% of the feature-length films I have on here.

#45 Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Written by Mark Boal.

SPOILER ALERT!!! We get Osama. (Or "UBL" as they like to refer to him in the movie.) I know I for one was sitting on the edge of my chair wondering. But yes, we do get him.

This movie was intense and forced you to pay attention almost to an extent that was tiring. However, it wasn't as smart of a movie as I had hoped. I very much dislike when "intelligence"-themed movies try to seem like they are smart by primarily making all the interactions slightly confusing. This movie was filled with a lot of jargon and incomplete conversations. I don't know if that sort of storyline makes other viewers think that they are using their brain a lot to follow the movie. For me, I really enjoy an "intelligence" movie when there is some actual intelligence involved in making the connections to either figure out whodunnit or find the bad guys. You know, where there's an actual point in the movie like a revelation, like, "wow, that took some smart thinking to figure that one out." Or, I don't know, at least used some sort of cool technology to outsmart the bad guys. There wasn't any moment like that in this movie. In fact, in many scenes I came away thinking how stupid the CIA was and how in reality they wouldn't have fucked it up like that at all. Namely, the upper al-Queda member who has been turned by Jessica, a CIA agent and best friend of Maya the main character, who the guards hesitatingly let through the checkpoints into the CIA black site simply because Jessica tells them to because now he's on their side. I think you can predict fairly well what happens at the end of this scene. Talk about a tense moment. Except for the fact that you could foresee it happening long before it does, and there are about a million "they would never have done that" moments involved. Anyway, as I was touching on before, there isn't really a very good connect-the-dots storyline of how they eventually get to UBL. They kinda just decide to try to find someone that no one wants to talk about regardless of how much they torture them and because he's acting kinda funny, like doing everything possible to not be tracked (a sure sign he's an important bad guy), and then the first moment they do find him, he just leads them right up to the compound by..... driving to it.

A lot of reviewers have commented about the use of torture in this movie and the movie-makers' stance on whether it was allowable or some say made even to look justifiable because it lead to finding Osama. I didn't much care for that aspect of the movie. Torture was bad. Osama was bad. I don't feel really strongly one way or the other about the fact that we got him. I'm really not a big "Yeah us!" proponent, so I didn't do any summersaults or anything when I heard that they killed him. I believe much more strongly that the anti-American sentiment throughout much of the rest of the world doesn't stem from terrorists and their inherent evilness as much as from our own foreign policy and the fact that corporate profits far and above anything else dictate national policy when it comes to oil-producing regions and the impoverished people that live there. But, the best review I came across of this movie was from an old classic movie reviewer, Roger Ebert (and he really went against the grain of what most other reviewers have been saying):

"The film's opening scenes are not great filmmaking. They're heavy on jargon and impenetrable calculation, murky and heavy on theory." He went on, "My guess is that much of the fascination with this film is inspired by the unveiling of facts, unclearly seen. There isn't a whole lot of plot – basically, just that Maya thinks she is right, and she is."

He gives it three stars out of four. And I give it 4 stars out of five.

#41 Tabu (2012)

#40 Side Effects (2013)

Another Steven Soderbergh experience.

                                Emily is depressed.  .....Or is she...?

I am a fan of many of the Soderbergh movies. I haven't seen his most recent movies like Contagion or really most of the others. But I do remember liking Traffic and especially liking Bubble. This movie both did it for me and didn't do it for me. At times during the picture, I found myself very entertained trying to follow the interesting and rapid storyline, while also having the sense that something just didn't seem right. There were a few drawbacks to this movie that I saw. First, I strongly believe that this story could have been just as credibly told with "normal" looking people. I mean at a certain point you can't help thinking, is it really necessary for these beautiful people to be constantly forced down my throat. Can't I get a little bit of William H. Macy and Tilda Swinton and John Hawkes for crissake. Jude Law was as precise and professional in his acting performance as his boring psychiatrist character is with his work. Neither Mara Rooney or Rooney Mara or whatever her name is nor Zeta-jones are really very good, in my opinion. And the Tatum guy played a pretty good prick, although I don't know if his character really was meant to be one. He was the kind of guy you wouldn't want to hang out at the bar you like to frequent. The second annoyance was why the hell do so many hollywood movies and LA television shows assume that "regular" people are all rich as hell? I'm finding it harder and harder to be empathetic with the characters' plights when they all belong to a socio-economic class that also contains around 0% of the people that I know or interact with on a regular basis.

Anyway, as far as thrillers go, this one requires your brain at least a little bit. Probably better than most. 3 stars.

#36 — #38 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary (Part I) (2012)

#36 Kings Point — Sari Gilman and Jedd Winer

#37 Mondays at Racine — Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan

#38 Inocente — Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

#28 — #35 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animated (2012)

#28 Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" (2012) — David Silverman

#29 Adam and Dog (2011) — Minkyu Lee

#30 Fresh Guacamole (2012) — PES

#31 Head over Heels (2012) — Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly

#32 Paperman (2012) — John Kahrs

Highly Commended:

#33 Abiogenesis (2011) — Richard Mans

#34 Dripped (2011) — Léo Verrier

#35 The Gruffalo's Child (2011) — Uwe Heidschötter and Johannes Weiland

#26 Consuming Spirits (2012)