The Bad Seed

Last night I was craving something along the lines of Psycho, but being that I was stuck here at work, I had to settle for what I brought. I had checked out The Bad Seed from the library; I think my mom had recommended it a few years back. It reminded me of some other films from that era, Village of the Damned and the fantastically creepy, The Night of the Hunter, although it was much funnier than either one of those films due to the over-dramatic acting. The acting was considered phenomenal at the time and nominated for a several awards, but today it's mostly laughable, although I've read several reviews that think it still holds up. Apparently the film was a big deal when it came out since it was one of the first films dealing with sociopaths and evil children.
The little girl, Patty McCormack is everything I hate in child actors. Watching her was the equivalent of what it might feel like to drink an entire bottle of pepto-bismol, not necessarily the after affects, but what it would feel like going down. It could also just be the pink-toned photographs on IMDB. Check out her page, she's been on every television show ever. While I did not find The Bad Seed to be great, it's certainly amusing, from Eileen Heckart as a bereaved, drunken mother to Leroy (pronounced La Roy) the evil half-witted maintenance man. There's some amazing lines, but since I don't have Mike 9's knack for memorizing the script of a film on the first viewing, I have none to offer.

I would recommend it if you enjoy old thrillers and can handle over the top acting.

snow angels

check out the third paragraph in this sundance post at pajiba for some information on david gordon green's newest film.

Brick

I looked through the archives and I didn't see a previous entry for this movie. I saw this movie for the first time last night, and I really enjoyed it. Brick has the feel of a 1930's cop show -- dialouge, delivery of lines, good guys vs bad guys -- but is set in modern times in high school. I have to admit that it was a little hard for me to make out what they were saying at times because of the now obscure phrases "tip the bulls", "i've got knives in my eyes", "the ape blows or I clam." We have a look into the inner working of the local drug ring, led by The Pin (who was priceless I thought) and uncover what really happened to Emily, the main character's former girlfriend.
What I found to be the most charming about this movie, aside from the mobster slang, was that it was just a bunch of high school kids. At the Pin's house his mom fixes the boys a nice glass of orange juice and some cereal for Brandon who has just been "roughed". The chicken pitcher from this scene nearly made me lose it. Back at the high school the V.P. (vice principle) is putting the pressure on the main character, and threatens to see him during Homeroom. The character "Tug" gets honorable mention for being always super in character and super pissed.
The cinematography I thought was also done very well. There was a good mix of comedic shots as well overhead Anderson-esque note/paper shots. The lighting/filtering of the film throughout was aesthetically pleasing and in a sense made the set feel more empty/cold, which fit the film well.

maybe not the best movie to just bring over to someone's house

I am a big Kieslowski fan (he directed the Three Colors trilogy, which I always think is famous just because one of my professors had a big poster of Juliette Binoche's head in his office, and it made an impression on me), and so thought little of suggesting one of his films for watching at my friend Vani's house the other week. After drinking some tea, we popped the DVD in her computer, and I was quite enjoying the film when I noticed that Vani was getting sort of restless. Mostly I noticed when she declared that she wasn't in the right mood for tragic females. I mean, sure, The Double Life of Veronique is probably 90% long, slow, dialogueless shots of Irene Jacob:




Like so. But the soundtrack is amazing, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the premise is intriguing. (Plus, I love to hear Polish and French spoken, and the anonymous early '90s style is delightful). However, I sort of got Vani's point when one of Jacob's characters falls in love with a creepy marionette-ist.



(That's not him, but it serves to illustrate the difficulty of believing that one could fall in love with the man who creates tiny, life-like, dead women at first sight.)

Anyway, there's an extremely uncomfortable sex scene that made me feel as though someday I would read something about Kieslowski being a misogynist and would then have to be embarrassed for loving his films so much, and then an ambiguous ending that I thought meant one thing until I saw the U.S. ending, and then I wasn't sure what it meant.

I'd like to discuss this movie with someone sometime, because I think it's interesting that Kieslowski doesn't care if his message is ambiguous or his plots are tied up. He started out making documentaries, and I think it really shows in his work. Although every set piece, person on film and, really, every color displayed seem to have been meticulously set in place for maximum effect, and the plot of this movie deals with supernatural coincidences, the camera then deliberately goes on to just film as non-intrusive observer.

Probably that doesn't make sense. Here's the short view: overall, this is a movie worth watching, if you like these sorts of movies.

Andrew Bird, I couldn't love you more

I'm convinced I could watch Andrew Bird play for hours and hours without becoming the least bit bored. He is ridiculously talented and unceasingly entertaining. Worth every second of the drive to and from Cleveland.

This weekend I finished A Series of Unfortunate Events and the most recent Harry Potter and now I'm left with that bittersweet feeling that comes with finishing an epic book or even moreso, a series. I am reminded of when I was eleven or so and finished the Anne of Green Gables series. I cried for at least an hour.

At least with Harry Potter another book is on the way, but now I'm part of the droves anticipating the release and probably won't be able to go the cheapo route and buy a used paperback or get it from the library but instead will probably have to buy the hardcover, and maybe even preorder it. I'm not a Potter fanatic, I've enjoyed jumping into this mania late in the game and taking my time reading through the series as I had a block of time to obssessively read a book in a day or two. But after this last one, I don't know if I can be a passive fan any longer. It's funny because I was very skeptical about the books for the first few years after their U.S. release and thought of them quite disdainfully for a while, but once I gave them a chance, I've been taken by them. Just don't count on me being at Border's in a wizard's hat and cloak the night of the release.

Of course, there's all of the rest of the movies, although I have to say that I haven't been completely satisfied by the movies. Obviously, with books as long as 800+ pages, even a three hour movie can't due them justice, but I still think they could allow a bit more time to develop characters rather than rush through the plot. It leaves them rather hollow.

I'm not even going to attempt to write about the Lemony Snicket books other than they're delightful, hysterical, wonderfully populated with likable and dispicable charaters, and just absolutely brilliant. I caught just enough of the literary references liberally sprinkled throughout the books to realize how incredibly unwell-read I am.

Dear Wendy

Last night we watched Dear Wendy for the first time. This is the first Jaime Bell performance that I thoroughly enjoyed (the only other film I've seen with him being the Chumscrubber). The movie has a feel of an old western - complete with shootouts and quickdraw senarios, but also has drama of relationships as well. There are a few clues to lead to you realize these kids live in the modern day, but in a very behind-the-times town; A town where the "real" men work the mines. Their passion for their guns soon manifests into much deeper social commentary. I enjoyed the film both aesthetically and for the social critique it leaves the viewer with.

Tativille!

Jacques Tati makes films that are almost perfect. Upon description they sound like something you'd maybe never want to see, but they're amazing. If any of you made it to Regent Square Theatre to see Play Time will know what I mean (I mean, if you agree with me). That particular movie does not really have a plot or characters or...dialogue. And it is 2 hours long. But it was utterly charming. I watched Mon Oncle last night and was similarly charmed. That's where these screen shots come from.