Poofterama (poofterama) wrote, @ 2009-01-30 12:27:00

Jan 09 movie log
Lady Chatterley Rating: B-
The lead performance is intriguing (this Lady Chatterley is somehow grounded and flighty at the same time, like so many of the adulterers I know from real life), but the movie on the whole feels cold, odd and off-kilter. Gallic sensibility, I suppose, is fundamentally incompatible with Anglo-Saxon sexuality.

Milk Rating: A-
A document as much as an anthem, this poignant call-to-arms is timely for coming at just such a juncture as when so many despair of the Band Playing Its Last. Penn's performance is a gem of exquisite technical control and quiet emotional power.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea Rating: B
Replete with an anime master's delicate touches, this invokes the right note of wonder at the right places, but I wish it has something more to say about the irresponsibility of young lovers, other than merely stating it. And is it only me, or is the idea of love between five-year-olds a wee bit disturbing?

Chinatown (dvd) Rating: A-
Not quite as spellbinding as that other masterwork of West Coast Day Noir, Vertigo, though the young Nicholson is terrific (he softens Hard-boiled with a mute melancholy, stepping confidently into Bogart's shoes), and Faye Dunaway a total scream (is there any Femme Fatale from this tradition of filmmaking who isn't?).

Rachel Getting Married Rating: A-
What do you know, emo-exhibitionists don't only come from trailer parks, but Connecticut too, which this film paints as a Benetton commune where people sing a lot. As riveting and charged as the worst of Jerry Springer, but made with all the art and heart required to yoke Altmanesque vision to Dogme aesthetic.

Red Cliff 2 Rating: A-
Putting everything he's got into channeling Kurosawa, while lacking the Japanese master's sense of composition, and composure, John Woo slamdunks the saga to a chaotic, punishing, intense, frequently florid and cheesy, but genuinely thrilling and stirring close. Somewhere in heaven, seven samurais are cheering.

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