Change Your Image
green2u
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Why did I wait 38 years to see this masterpiece?
I just caught this on its Turner Classic Movies (TCM) premiere and it totally blows me away by how relevant it remains! The dialog, the direction, the performances are all top-notch and instantly hurtles this film into my top 10. Very little blows me away these days, but this did. If it were released today, I think it would be even more of a hit and get the Oscar respect it deserved (and didn't get) back then. "Closer" also happens to be one of my fave films, brilliant in every respect as "Carnal Knowledge." It's no surprise that Nichols directed it too. These two films should be seen back-to-back.
Now THAT's the Jack Nicholson I fell in love with! The bedroom scene between him and Ann-Margaret where's he's going bonkers over the messiness of the house is a tour-de-force. And dig Jack's groovy pad near the end of the film: It looks like it came right out of today's Metropolitan Home magazine. And Rita Moreno's brief appearance at the end is the perfect cap to a near-perfect film.
Letyat zhuravli (1957)
Where has the film been all my life?
Sick of the current cinema output, particularly American cinema, I've been making an effort to see the Oscar-winning foreign films. That's when I came across this gem. Slow to start, it picks up nicely once war is declared. Basically an old fashioned girl-waits-for-boy-to-return-from-war-story, the performances, the cinematography make this so very much more. Why Tatyana Samojlova as the young woman didn't become an international star after this is beyond me(though she has remained successful in her own country). You take the journey with her: young, defiant impetuous young girl, who, through the ravages of war becomes a very sober, somber woman who keeps a glimmer of hope (her final scene is devastating). We love her as much as the camera does. And the camera-work! Was this the pioneer in hand-held camera work? It truly adds an immediacy to the story. And the beauty of it (like when Tatyana's character is running up stairs and next to a slatted fence). I am humbled and grateful to see this film.
Girls Will Be Girls (2003)
Subtle as a Red Bull Enema
"You've had an abortion?" "Evie, I've had more kids pulled outa me than a burning orphanage."
That dialogue was a test of your tolerance for this screamingly politically incorrect in your face laugh til ya vomit outrageous comedy. I'm a big fan of MAD Magazine, Strangers with Candy, and some John Waters films. I also think Valley of the Dolls, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Mommie Dearest are three of the campiest films ever made. If you feel the same, then you will love this movie.
Sure it's silly and falls apart by the end but enjoy the ride til the train wrecks! Three leads are dead on and play their parts to the hilt. The production value (costumes, art direction) alone is a good third of the laughs. On DVD, the pop colors are so bright you need sunglasses. And the opening titles are worth the price of the DVD alone. The Menu selections are very clever as well as the characters talk to you (disparagingly) about their section. Highly recommended.
All the Rage (1997)
It haunts me to this day
I saw this flick at Outfest in LA five years ago and was saddened it never gained the audience recognition (or distribution) it deserved. It's the best film on the culture of gay narcissism (the clones of West Hollywood, South Beach, Greenwich Village, Dupont Circle, Midtown, etc.). Then again, maybe THAT's why it never saw light of day. It shows an unpleasant side of gay clone life where a leopard truly cannot change his spots.
Sure the acting borders on amateurish (especially the lead), but the script has so much going for it.
Peter Ibbetson (1935)
Unabashedly romantic
If ever a film needed to be re-made or better yet, turned into a stage musical, this is IT! Lovers who can never meet except only in their DREAMS! It sounds so cornball, but is handled very well (though it does feel very 30s). And Gary Cooper once again proves himself as one of the the leading romantic actors in film history.
Unfortunately, the prints/sound quality on TV I've seen of this film is very bad. It is also rarely shown and unavailable on DVD or VHS.
The Object of My Affection (1998)
Overlooked "Affection"
Except for a "too-tidy" ending, this film is as charming as Paul Rudd's smile.And Jennifer Aniston CAN act! It's a very difficult role that could've been unsympathetic and whiny. But with a deft adaptation by Wendy Wasserstein and direction by Nicholas Hytner (Madness of King George),what could've been sitcom and cliches, is very moving.
It's was just released today on DVD. Bravo!
Dinner with Friends (2001)
Surpasses the stage play
I hated the stage play. So static and talky. But being an immense fan of Margulies' other work, I decided to give the movie a shot. WOW! Maybe it was the chemistry, direction and the ability to have multiple locations, but for some reason, everything fell together and I truly appreciated Margulies' dialogue.
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Another Blockbuster Video hatchet job?
Big on atmosphere and a boffo performance by Willem Dafoe, but GEEZ that script! People die and nobody notices? A lead "actor" (Izzy Izzard) sees the Count sucking a neck and is nonplussed about continuing to work with him? COME ON! The movie feels like it is terribly edited or the writer cannot write three dimensional characters. Motivations and logic are thrown out the window. The script can't decide what it wants to be: Comedy? Mystery? Profundity? A script can be all those things but this screenwriter was not up to it (or he should sue the editor). And the ending is so out of hand it looks like George Romero trying to be Ingmar Bergman.
I hope someone some day take this precious particle of an idea and does justice with it.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A GRIM Fairy tale
I found this tale disturbingly dark and for adults only. It's a boy (or in this case robot boy)as victim. Anyone who takes their small child to this is a sadist! Stabbed with a cake knife, abandoned by his "mother,"hunted like an animal, frozen in a block of ice for 2000 years.....
It's ET. It's Wizard of Oz. It's Pinnochio (that Blue Fairy and the voice of Meryl Streep is the creepiest thing in the movie, and the ending is reminiscent of Titanic (is it real or a dream, is he dead or alive?) And it's thrown into a blender with a touch of Grimm's Fairy Tales. You even have a storyteller voice (Ben Kingsley) opening and closing the film.
The theme here? To love and be loved. Without love, we are just a bunch of clones. The capacity to give and receive love makes us truly individual.
It's a shame this was marketed as a mainstream film. Had it been marketed through independent film circles, I feel the hailstorm of negative reactions would've been much less. It's by no means a perfect film, but it does have some disturbing elements and themes that can't easily be shaken if one digs deep enough.
Ansikte mot ansikte (1976)
Harrowing
I saw this film in its original release in 1976 and to this day it haunts me as if it were a part of my past (though nothing about this film is). Liv Ullman's raw performance remains best performance by an actress in my history of filmgoing.
Boys Life: Three Stories of Love, Lust, and Liberation (1994)
Ah, the blossoming of desire!
The trio are a pleasant, nostalgic journey to that first hint of desire--when it was still about simple exploration of the unknown--before we "grew up" and added those complexities of HIV status, emotional baggage and gotta-run-my-pager-just-went-off into the emotional mix.
The angst portrayed is pure adolescent angst, but it rings true in all three stories. Their sweetness and positivity make you feel good that you are gay. And those kinds of films are few and far between.
Good news! Both Boys Life and Boys Life 2 are now readily available on DVD as of September 1999.