CLIMBING UP THE CINEMA WALLS

I have been absolutely buried the last couple of weeks in terms of movie viewing, and I am way, way behind on my reviewing. In addition to six capsule reviews for the Portland Mercury, I wrote up eleven films from the Portland International Film Festival for Criterion Cast. You can check them all out here on my author's page. That's seventeen movies in less than three weeks, in addition to everything else. Try it sometime, it will break your head!

Anyway, back to the old routine...

NEW IN THEATRES...

* Barney's Version, an ambitious literary adaptation that can't bear the narrative weight. Fine performances by Paul Giametti, Dustin Hoffman, and Rosamund Pike at least make it watchable.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* Amarcord, Fellini's beautiful and entertaining stroll down memory lane.

* Basil Dearden's London Underground, a boxed set of four movies from the innovative and narratively daring English filmmaker. (Also at DVD Talk.)

* Senso, Luchino Visconit's operatic tale of love and madness. Lush and erudite, it's a pretty spectacular piece of cinema. (Also at DVD Talk.)

* Still Walking, the story of one modern Japanese family's grief, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. (Also at DVD Talk.)

THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...

* America America, Elia Kazan's remarkable epic story of one boy trying to get from Turkey to America.

* An Affair to Remember, Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant in a romance that never loses its passion.

* Burlesque, revisiting one of my favorite reviews from last year now that the movie is out on Blu-Ray and DVD.

* Futureworld, a sort of dull 1970s vision of a theme park future.

* Guest of Cindy Sherman, a documentary made by a narcissist who can't handle that his coattail ride doesn't come with its own coat. I got some particularly juicy hate mail for this review since the piece could be considered as a personal attack on the filmmaker. I stand by the assertion that if you're going to be the subject of your own movie and present yourself and your activities as some kind of plea for sympathy or even admiration, then you erase the line between art and artist. You are the art. This has been an ongoing topic of mine. I refer back to my review of Tarnation, written for this blog back in 2005. Feel free to post your thoughts on the subject below. I think it's an interesting topic worthy of discussion.

* Thelma & Louise: 20th Anniversary Edition: It's still fun to hit the road with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. Directed by Ridley Scott.

* Unstoppable, the other Scott brother's recent film about an out of control road trip is also a pretty damn good time.

Current Soundtrack: Robotanists, ROBOTANISTS does RADIOHEAD: The King of Limbs [In 24 Hours] (free download)

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All text (c) 2011 Jamie S. Rich