04 February 2009

2009 Notebook: Vol 4

I still haven't decided on how I want to list the films I've watched. Putting them into a hierarchical grouping feels like a cheap way of reducing the films to star ratings and grades, which always end up changing the more I think (or don't think) about them. I also don't feel like writing cute, singular titles for them either as that's just an even lazier version of a capsule review. So for now, they'll just be placed into two: First viewing and Revisited.

First Viewing

The Cabin Movie - dir. Dylan Akio Smith - Canada - 2005 - N/A - with Arabella Bushnell, Ben Cotton, Brad Dryborough, Ryan Robbins, Justine Warrington, Erin Wells

The Dark Hours - dir. Paul Fox - Canada - 2005 - Freestyle Releasing - with Kate Greenhouse, Aidan Devine, Gordon Currie, Iris Graham, Dov Tiefenbach

Doubt - dir. John Patrick Shanley - USA - 2008 - Miramax - with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Joseph Foster II

Dream Boy - dir. James Bolton - USA - 2008 - N/A - with Stephan Bender, Maximillian Roeg, Thomas Jay Ryan, Diana Scarwid, Randy Wayne, Owen Beckman, Tricia Mara, Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Gilroy

Six Days, Six Nights [À la folie] - dir. Diane Kurys - France - 1994 - N/A - with Anne Parillaud, Béatrice Dalle, Patrick Aurignac, Alain Chabat, Bernard Verley

The Story of Piera [Storia di Piera] - dir. Marco Ferreri - Italy/France/West Germany - 1983 - N/A - with Hannah Schygulla, Isabelle Huppert, Marcello Mastroianni, Bettina Grühn, Angelo Infanti, Tanya Lopert, Renato Cecchetto, Maurizio Donadoni

Revisited

Buffalo '66 - dir. Vincent Gallo - USA - 1998 - Lionsgate - with Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke, Rosanna Arquette, Jan-Michael Vincent, Kevin Corrigan

Exotica - dir. Atom Egoyan - Canada - 1994 - Miramax - with Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Mia Kirshner, Don McKellar, Arsinée Khanjian, Sarah Polley, Victor Garber

Freeway - dir. Matthew Bright - USA - 1996 - Republic - with Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Dan Hedaya, Wolfgang Bodison, Brooke Shields, Amanda Plummer, Michael T. Weiss, Bokeem Woodbine, Alanna Ubach, Brittany Murphy, Guillermo Díaz, Tara Subkoff

Wild Tigers I Have Known - dir. Cam Archer - USA - 2006 - IFC Films - with Malcolm Stumpf, Patrick White, Fairuza Balk, Max Paradise, Kim Dickens, Tom Gilroy

4 comments:

Ed Howard said...

I don't know, I like having some idea of how you feel about the movies you list in these. I liked the old system of assigning them loose ranks; nothing wrong with hierarchies.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Ed.
Trash the talentless(or sometimes just plain dull).

Also what a coincidence! It will be my first viewing of The story of Piera today as well, so this brings me to my next point. I'd have some kind of warning or be slightly aware of what to expect of the film; though i'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing. Well, you know what I mean.

reassurance said...

Good call. Strangely, the film I expected to like the least out of the new viewings (Doubt) was probably the best of the lot.

And, wow, I think maybe a person a year watches The Story of Piera. What a coincidence. I'll divide the films up later tonight, so it's probably worth mentioning that The Cabin Movie is a shitfest... and that I don't think I care for Diane Kurys in the least, even when she casts Anne Parillaud and Béatrice Dalle as sisters.

reassurance said...

And, speaking of Piera, has anyone seen Ferreri's La Dernière femme with Gérard Depardieu and Ornella Mutti? I'd love to see it; hopefully someday soon.