In an effort to keep myself honest during my June Project of seeing a film every day, I present the list of the 19 films I have seen so far, complete with capsule reviews!
1 June: The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005)
A gorgeous and nihilistic Australian neo-Western, hits every right note in its treatment of colonial culture.
2 June: An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim, 2006)
The most important PowerPoint show you will ever see (yes, I’m aware it was made in Keynote).
3 June: Jinruigaku nyumon [The Pornographers] (Imamura Shohei, 1966)
I’m sorry it took Imamura’s death to make me see one of his films. This is a bit overlong, but there’s a lot to love about its depiction of obsession both sexual and otherwise. And pound for pound, it probably has the most interesting compositions of any film I’ve seen this year (favorite one: shot down through a fishtank, fish not moving, people below the fish in focus).
4 June: Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
and Back to the Future, Part II (Robert Zemeckis, 1989)
and Back to the Future, Part III (Robert Zemeckis, 1990)
I don’t…really…need to review these, do I?
5 June: Banlieue 13 [District B13] (Pierre Morel, 2004)
Damn fine opening act that turns into a rote procedural.
6 June: The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)
I don’t scare easy, only three or four films actually get to me that way. This movie scared me. People call it restrained, which is not entirely accurate – instead of gore effects it has sound effects, and they are freaky.
7 June: Taepung [Typhoon] (Kwak Kyung-Taek, 2005)
and The Omen (John Moore, 2006)
The first: how do you fuck up a nuclear pirate movie? Easily.
The second: least necessary film of 2006.
8 June: Over the Hedge (Tim Johnson & Karey Kirkpatrick, 2006)
Totally inoffensive. I’m not prepared to be any nicer.
9 June: Cars (John Lasseter, 2006)
and A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman, 2006)
First: cute as hell, but disappointing given its pedigree.
Second: you probably need to be a Midwesterner, but damn is it good.
10 June: Lady and the Tramp (Clyde Geronimi & Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske, 1955)
Oh, come on. “Bella Notte” is a fucking romantic scene.
11 June: California Split (Robert Altman, 1974)
Unjustly forgotten. It’s not an ensemble piece, it’s only about two people wonderfully played by George Segal and Elliott Gould. Great in the way it shows American ambition and then kind of shrugs, “so what?” and leaves us with this last-minute realization that we just saw two men lose their souls. Subdued camerawork, for Altman.
12 June: Footlight Parade (Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley, 1933)
The script’s not the best in the world, but James Cagney is a delight, and the three climactic dance numbers are among Berkeley’s best. “Shanghai Lil” is worth the price of the DVD all by itself.
13 June: Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)
Everyone who like cinema as an art owes this movie to themselves. One of the most theologically challenging films I’ve ever seen, it wears its staginess like a badge of honor – yet it’s undeniably cinematic. Never have I seen so much weight put upon the simple camera pan; and there are a couple 270 degree tracking shots that made me swoon. The best and hardest film I’ve watched in ages.
14 June: The Break-Up (Peyton Reed, 2006)
The second-least necessary film of 2006
15 June: All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955)
Fucking gorgeous. Nobody does gaudy Technicolor like Sirk. And I don’t recall him being so fond of frames-within-frames, which which he does really damn well. Better cinema than any of its various remakes and “inspired bys”; but a shaky script. Rock Hudson is characteristically dull.