Village Vidiot

”Sunset Limited,” 18 August 2012 (2011), DVD.   Produced, directed, and staring Tommy Lee Jones as Mr White, a philosophy professor saved from committing suicide by Mr Black (Samuel L Jackson) an ex-con cleaning man who is told by God/Jesus to be on the track at a specific time. This Cormack McCarthy play/movie is a dialogue/conversation…

  “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” August 17, 2012.    We both liked this interesting film about the off-the-grid, bayou-dwelling underclass living in the fens off the coast of LA. A young girl raised by her hard-drinking father who is ill. Hurricanes, imaginary animals and images of the melting polar icecaps link it all together….

 “Sample This!”,  August 15 2014, (2012), DVD.  Unsophisticated documentary narrated by Gene Simmons of Kiss looking at the story behind the Incredible Bongo Band’s song “Apache” role in the evolution and development of scratch, sampling, and hip-hop. Follows the many players and producers (Michael Viner in particular) involved in this record’s story and its use…

  “Melancholia,” 4 August 2012  (2011), DVD.    This two-part Lars Van Triers effort looks at two sisters Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsborough) as they both face their world ending through marriage (Dunst) and the mystery blue planet, Melancholia (all) that threatens the world in the second part. Wonderful acting from John Hurt,…

  “Queen to Play,” (French with subtitles), 30 July 2012 (2009), DVD   We both really enjoyed this French film about a chambermaid who becomes obsessed with chess. She turns to her American employer, Kevin Kline, for lessons and he obliges. It’s a very interesting film with looks at class, gender, and age through the…

  “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” 22 June 2012 (2011), DVD.  Watched while recovering from knee surgery. Really hot outside. Innocuous romantic comedy with Steve Carrell as Cal Weaver, married to Emily (Julianne Moore) who informs him over dinner that she wants a divorce and then informs him she’s had an affair. He moves out and is…

“J. Edgar,” 12 June 2012 (2011), DVD. OK film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the despicable Hoover portrayed in all his narcissistic arrogance and evil but not as a cartoon. Judy Dench as his repressive mom is really wonderful. Leo’s accent so-so at times. It follows him from 1920 and the radical purges (many by breaking…

“Sugar,” 23 June 2012, DVD.  OK. baseball film about a 20-yo Dominincan kid Miguel “Sugar” Santos who tries to make it from the DR to the bigs. He falls apart in Iowa and flees to New York. Slow and sad film about this kid losing faith in himself and perhaps desire to do this. His…

“Get Him to the Greek,” 27 April 2012 (2010), DVD. Yikes, a month without watching a movie Something is very wrong with me these days. Anyway, I liked this rather crude guy flick with Jonah Hill as Aaron Green, charged with getting Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) an aging rock star to the Greek Theater for…

  “No,” (Chilean, Spanish with Subtitles), April 21, 2013 (2012), theater.    Very fine film about the ‘campaign’ to remove Augusto Pinochet as dictator of Chile Rene’ (Gael Garcia Bernal). is hired/recruited to consult/run/be part of the campaign to vote no on the Chilean dictatorship. He’s a young, American-inspired ad man in the age of…

  “Searching for Sugarman,” April 4, 2013 (2012), DVD.    This review is dedicated to the memory of Roger Ebert who died yesterday: on your work, one thumb very up!. Sixto Rodriguez’s two albums came and went from the music scene during the early 1970s without making a ripple here. With Dylan-esque lyrics, pacing like…

“Casablanca,” [1942], 21 March 2012, theater!  Bronwen and I had the pleasure of watching “Casablanca” tonight on the big screen in its 70th anniversary release.  A remarkable film with great acting, writing and directing Full of wonderful romance (Boogie and Bergman are spectacular and she is sooooooooooo gorgeous), intrigue, politics, and ironic and occasionally sardonic…

“Gloomy Sunday,” [1999], 19 February 2012, DVD.  Set in Budapest before, during, and long after WWII, this interesting German/Hungarian film chronicles the story of a loving meange a tois and the horror of the Holocaust. Lazlo runs a wonderful restaurant with Ilona when in comes Andras, a pianist of talent, who composes a song “Gloomy…

“Lincoln,” February1, 2013 (2012), theater.  Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s dramatization of the passage of the 13th Amendment. Daniel Day Lewis is profoundly patient/impatient, moderate/progressive, pragmatic/idealistic and accommodating/strong-willed as Abe, while Tommy Lee Jones (Thaddeus Stephens), Sally Field (Mary Todd Lincoln), James Spader (Theodore Bilbo) have a grand time with their roles and David Straitharn…

  “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” 15 January 2012 (2011), theater.  Third of the year, third in the theater. First time in a long time. We both enjoyed this slow, tense, atmospheric piece, where character, dialogue, acting, and story line carry this John LeCarre story/film in an ambiguous world of grey people and deceit. Gary Oldman…

“Incendies,” 25 December 2011, DVD.  Not a Christmas film, this rough 2010 French-Canadian drama follows twins Simon and Jeanne Marwan as they journey to Lebanon. to discover their roots and learn about their mother’s life. Lebanon in the 1970s-80s was a tangled mess of confessional and warlord nightmares. The timeline here is a bit confusing…

October 22, 2011,  DVD. I liked this Paul Giamatti vehicle quite a bit. He plays Michael Flaherty, a respectable but failing lawyer in economic distress (he represents lots of poor and elderly folks and moonlights as the coach of a failing local wrestling team) married to stay-at-home mom Jackie (Amy Ryan) who take in Kyle…

  “True Grit, “ September 14, 2011 (2010), DVD.    We liked this Coen Brothers remake of the John Wayne classic quite a bit. It stars Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn and Matt Daman as LaBeuf, the young Texas Ranger out to track and capture Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who shot Mattie Ross’s…

  “Of Gods and Men,” August 17, 2011 (2010), DVD.  This is another slow, or perhaps stately, film. It looks at the 8 French Trappist monks in Algeria who became pawns in the games played by the Islamists who waged war on the Algerian government. Much of the film is the simple presentation of the…

[4:40 p.m.-6:15 p.m.], 1 August 2012, Lincoln Center. We saw part of this conceptual art piece (who has seen the whole thing?) that examines the role of noted time (via the clock) in film. It is not simply the passage of time, but the use of the clock and the time itself. Shown in real…

  “Inside Job,” July 17 2011 (2010), DVD.    The story of the crash of 2008 narrated by Matt Damon.   Excellent movie. See this one and appreciate the perverse irony of S&P resetting US government bond rates at AA instead of AAA Sickening and a must see

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” Pt. II, July 15, 2011, theater. We enjoyed watching this final chapter in the Potter series where the battle between good and evil finally comes to a head. Good acting by the younger actors, especially Radcliffe as Potter.

  “Despicable Me,” 4 June 2011 (2010), DVD.  I think B and I are the only people in America who actually disliked this cartoon about the comic battle of evildoers. We were so bored we shut it down after 30 minutes and watched another episode of “Treme’” Really boring, not funny

  ”Treme’,” May-June 2011 (2010), DVD.  We really enjoyed this 10-part first season about post-Katrina New Orleans. I found M Leo’s character a bit too sincere and virtuous for my taste (she is, apparently, modeled on a real NO lawyer) but the rest of the piece is a wonderful and joyous presentation of the city…

  “Restrepo, “ May 15, 2011 (2010), DVD.  Very well done, disturbing documentary about a platoon’s tour of duty. in Afghanistan. We don’t have a clue about what the hell we’re doing and why we’re doing it Amazing. The loss of US and Afghan lives, treasure, reputation, meaning, etc is simply mind-boggling. Was there ever…