Crumb

CRUMB is a stunning portrait of a man and his life, tracking Robert Crumb the underground cartoonist over four years of his life. We get a very unflattering view of Crumb, but he speaks for himself at large, and that gives him a sort of dignity that goes hand in hand with his odd lifestyle. He's a wiry looking guy, and his cartoons are just as odd, bulgy and crude and subversive. But I was never really drawn to Crumb the cartoonist as I was drawn to Crumb the family man or Crumb the individual. He holds some truly odd but individual views, believing he's never really been in love (although he's married). But it's a true feat of this documentary by Terry Zwigoff to see some really sad bits of Crumb's life, like his brother who, in childhood, was just as promising an artist as Robert, but now still lives with his mother and chronically medicates. That's why CRUMB is such an interesting film. I was personally not attracted to Crumb's art, but the way that he defends it is almost more worthwhile in itself.

out of Five

Chungking Express

Directed by lionized, Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai, CHUNGKING EXPRESS is on the surface an exercise in style, and at its heart a tribute to youth. Expressing itself in unique cinematography, showing singular images or people stagnated within a quickly moving camera, and telling two stories about two different cops who pine for women at the same teahouse, CHUNGKING EXPRESS attempts to materialize the excitement of youth and blossoming love. It is quirky, but not obviously so. In fact, all of Kar-Wai's cinematic gestures are seamless within his established environment. In the first segment of the film, He Qiwu, collects pineapple cans with the expiration date of April 1st. April 1st will signify a month since breaking up with his long-time girlfriend, and it is also his birthday. He says that if the pineapples expire on April 1st, so will his love. He Qiwu is a cop, and occasionally brushes against people in his line of work who impress upon him small ideas or romantic visions. He Qiwu is like a detective who is investigating something meaningless or trivial, but this seemingly trivial investigation is actually one that is close to his heart. The second segment concerns the unnamed cop 663. He has broken up with his flight attendant girlfriend, and pines for her at the teahouse where He Qiwu spends most of his days. He notices, however, the pixie-like Faye, and her influence becomes important to the cop. Apart from being a tribute to youth, Wong Kar-Wai's film is a tribute to style. The first half could be likened to gangster films, and the second half to comedies like HIS GIRL FRIDAY in its playful nature.
Chungking Express: ★★★★

Clerks

CLERKS does a great thing: it attempts to provoke us, but we never actually sense that it is trying to be provocative. Coming out in the late 90's amid essential censorship protests demanding an NC-17 rating for language alone, Cannes lauds, and debut-film wonderment, similarly surprising is that these outside factors haven't diminished the film itself. Perhaps pretentiously, as with all of his films / work, Kevin Smith crafts in CLERKS a parallel universe of laziness. His film is, on the surface, about how the clerks who serve us really hate us, but underneath that, and past the realization / obviousness of the pathetic nature of clerks, there is a culture of laziness and self awareness.
Dante (Brian O'Halloran) is Smith's lazy hero: a convenience store clerk who is brought in on his day off. Everything goes bad for Dante: his friend from the video store next door, Randall (Jeff Anderson) annoys him all day, he misses a hockey game, he laments over his high school girlfriend, he laments over his current girlfriend, and he has to deal with idiotic customers. The whiny nature of Dante's problems is the least attractive bit of the film, but, made on a minuscule budget, the goings-on at the small convenience store is surreally funny. However unbelievable the customers are (and they aren't all weird) they possess a quality of what the quintessential asshole at the counter would be like, rather than the general one. The knack for dialogue that Smith possesses is also put to good use.
However, this is a film of immaturity. It has a lot of worth, and its very funny, and for that I give it credit. Philosophically however, as CLERKS occasionally pretends to be, the film is not sound.
Clerks: ★★★

Ed Wood

The Worst Filmmaker Ever

Most of Tim Burton's films are extremely uncontrolled. So much so, that the case could be made for Burton's passion overtaking his control in the same fashion of Edward W. Wood, Jr., the subject of this 1994 film. Ed Wood is known today as the worst filmmaker ever, but regarded in some circles affectionately. Burton's biopic of the 1950's director is within the realm of affectionate undertaking, possibly because Burton saw his own faulty briskness within the films of Ed Wood. Wood would occasionally take only a single take for a scene, would forget simple things like if the scene is set in day or night, and other such "minor details". Burton's film exhibits Wood as a likable weirdo. Obsessed with films, possessing a goofy smile and a tendency to try on women's clothes, Wood (played wonderfully by Burton's frequent collaborator Johnny Depp) thinks of himself as a sort of Orson Welles-esque filmmaker: working towards a vision because of his passion. Wood's obstacles are many. For one thing, he's a terrible filmmaker, so it's hard to be able to make film. Luckily, Wood discovers an aged, drug-addicted Bela Lugosi and is able to use the star power of his friend to coast through films. Wood often also casts sons of contributors to the film, and even gets a group baptism in able to fund another schlocky pic. Within ED WOOD, there's a control by Burton. The eccentricities are not so ridiculous as in his other films, and yet the affection towards other people / characters is present. The cinematography is a brilliant, nostalgic black and white, and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi is frequently brilliant. Furthermore, Burton manages to create an affectionate biopic without ever falling into his usual pitfalls. Strangely though, Burton avoids these almost as if he's learning after Ed Wood himself...but then goes on to make, oh, WILLY WONKA.
Ed Wood: ★★★1/2

Little Odessa

The most recent two films (TWO LOVERS and WE OWN THE NIGHT) from James Gray showed how he was advancing as a filmmaker. TWO LOVERS was crisper than WE OWN THE NIGHT in its storyline, and even though both films are great, TWO LOVERS transcended whatever expectations there already were. LITTLE ODESSA (Gray's first film) shows how much he has progressed since then. The film tells of a young boy, about the age of all young boys in films, who hears his brother is back in town. The brother is a hit man, Josh, (Tim Roth) who was kicked out of the house for murdering someone. The kid is eager to meet up with Josh, because their mother is dying of cancer. Josh and the kid, it seems, were beaten on a regular basis by their father. The truly interesting part of this tale is the relationship between Josh and his father: that tension from unnamed events in the past. However, Gray's necessity in this film to fit everything he wanted to accomplish in makes for an unwieldy and awkward film. There are action and chase scenes, perhaps because he thought this would be his only film and he would have to fit them in somehow. When considered under specific scenes and camera movements, this would seem to be quite a good film, and it is truly well directed and acted. However, there is just so much going on in such a small grouping of events, that the film seems to take itself too seriously and accentuates itself by simply being and acting.
Little Odessa: ★★1/2

The X-Files: Season 1

The X-Files does not seem as original as it might have when it came out in the early 90's. It has a rainy and hapless feeling to it, but some of that 90's crime magic that was so constant within that period. But the X-Files boasts two damn-fine actors and one of the best genre's within film: mystery. For, it is so intriguing to be brought through the FBI cases that are worked on in the X-Files. Especially when a lot of the theories and ideas are ones that actually exist in real life, The X-Files is great at exhibiting great cop drama. However, it's above even that, for, the series chronicles the digging and working of it's main character: Fox Mulder (David Duchovney) in a unique fashion. Mulder is obsessed with the paranormal, he's been assigned to the X-Files to be shoved aside. He's an esteemed profiler, but his "spooky" ideas have landed him in a basement at the FBI looking at files to do with the paranormal. Mulder is an avid believer, and to debunk him even further, the government assigns an agent: Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to scientifically scrutinize his findings. There's a lot of near-corny material in the X-Files, but it's elevated by the real theories within. Example: the real life Jersey Devil to whom an episode is dedicated.

The X-Files: ✰✰✰✰

The Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank is a film that most everyone likes. It manages to be endearing and constantly amiable, even when it's sad or cruel. Perhaps it's because Shawshank has a happy ending. But it's popularity doesn't dwindle the greatness of Shawshank. It's a great story, penned originally by Stephen King in novella form. It tells of Andy Dufrense (Tim Robbins) who is sent to jail after being convicted of murder--the murder of his wife. However, Andy is innocent. In prison he meets Red (Morgan Freeman) and over the span of about thirty years, they become best friends. We see a lot of intriguing stuff in Shawshank. We see a man who's been in prison so long he doesn't know how to act in the real world when he's finally released. We see cruel prison guards, manipulative wardens. And yet, Andy is invigorated by Red to keep alive within prison. At first he drifts into depression, and yet Red gives him the drive to keep working. Andy works in the library at the prison, he does the tax returns for all of the guards, he gains the confidence of the warden. This might all seem like small achievements, but in the context of prison, these show the need to be important even within the heart of hell. There's so much injustice, so much love in Shawshank that it becomes more than just a prison movie. Rather, it becomes the story of a life. The story of most lives. The Shawshank Redemption is a great film.