2013 Catch-Up

In a normal year it's takes either a pile of cash or a press-pass to keep up on the state of cinema. With a crop as good as 2013 has yielded, keeping up-to-date costs somewhere between first-born and eternal soul. But don't worry! I am here to save your souls and children! What follows is a random list of 2013 releases that are available to stream on Netflix. Some are amazing, some are horrendous, some I haven't even seen. Take some of that holiday relaxation time and see what 2013 had to offer...before the cycle begins again on Wednesday!

A Band Called Death
Berberian Sound Studio
Frances Ha
Side Effects
Drug War
Upstream Color
Blancanieves
The Sapphires
Crystal Fairy
Drew: The Man Behind The Poster
My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Computer Chess
John Dies At The End
Only God Forgives
Sharknado
Movie 43
We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks
Olympus Has Fallen
Something In The Air
Parker
To The Wonder
Cutie And The Boxer
Blackfish
Post Tenebras Lux
Lovelace

Favorite Christmas Scenes in Non-Christmas Movies

We all have our favorite holiday films this time of year. You have your classics, your Miracle on 34th Street, your Scrooged, even your Die Hard and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. There are a few films, however, that I like to watch that aren't set entirely at Christmas or have nothing to do with the holiday, but have a heartwarming scene or two set at this jolly time. Here are a few favorites!

Fritz and Ernst come home, Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

The two oldest Robinson boys go off exploring the island, and the family back home tries to celebrate Christmas without them. Mother Robinson fears the worst and misses the boys, and they come back with a couple guests...

Friday Quote: When Harry Met Sally...

I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

Double-Bill: Her Said/Him Said

Lost In Translation and Her

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Is there really any reason to summarize this plot?

*      *      *

Forget all y'all who hate this film. If you don't like this film, I don't think you're actually watching it. I think you might just be reacting to the film's reputation, because as a film it's darn near impeccable! The story is touching, the social message is important/relevant to right now, the actors are charming and the filmmaking is top-notch. There's a silent tracking shot of George at the train station after he finds out that his brother doesn't plan to go into the family business that could absolutely work in a Bresson film! Even something as deceptively simple as that opening shot of the sign reading, "You Are Now In Bedford Falls" is a stroke of genius. The film is even able to handle some pretty dark/unsettling moments with little sugarcoating. That Capra fella sure could spin a yarn and this is one that I don't have any problem seeing each year. It's A Wonderful Film!

Friday Quote: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

"Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse!"

Christmas Vacation (1989)

L'Atalante (1934)

A small-town girl marries a bargeman in hopes of seeing the world. Unfortunately life on a barge is not very glamorous and the hustle and bustle of Paris can be very seductive.

*      *      *

So many beautiful frames in this film. That Jean Vigo fella really understood the importance of the frame. As a director you have pretty much absolute control over what the camera sees. Is one of your actor’s too short? Have them stand on a box and voilà they are the same height as their co-star. The audience won’t know it’s there, they only know what they see. If it’s not in the frame, it doesn’t matter. And in the case of this film, the only thing that matters is that little barge and the lovably flawed people on it. The outside world is just a glamorous and seductive distraction. As long as we are able to ignore it and focus on what is important, it will be smooth sailing ahead.

Rebecca (1940)

Unfortunately it sometimes takes the death of a beloved star to finally see that movie you've been meaning to watch "someday." That was the way it was with Rebecca, a movie that had been sitting on my "To See" list for far too long. When Joan Fontaine died this past weekend, we decided it was time.

Fontaine plays a timid young woman who is swept away by the sophisticated Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) while on holiday, and accepts his sudden proposal. She finds herself out of her element in his huge estate, intimidated by the disapproving housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), and haunted by constant reminders of the beauty and perfection of the deceased first Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca.

I loved loved loved this movie. It's dark, it's moody, and it's full of twists and turns. It's Alfred Hitchcock at his most gothic and elegant (and it is the only Hitchcock film to win the Oscar for Best Picture). Fontaine is great as the fragile and anxious Mrs. de Winter, but Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers? Chilly and amazing. She floats through the film like an ominous shadow. I love the decision to not give Fontaine's character a name, and to never show an image of Rebecca. It's these details that give this film an edge, and make our imaginations run wild. I'm so happy I finally saw this and I can't recommend it enough!

Double-Bill: Angeleno X-Mas

Go and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Face/Off (1997)

In order to stop a bomb from blowing up Los Angeles, a cop (John Travolta) must take on the identity of the fiendish Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage). Little does he know that Troy has also taken on his identity. Yes it is as ludicrous as it sounds.

*      *      *

When you grow up with strange things, you come to accept them as normal. As a child of the late 90’s I grew up watching a lot of films starring Nicolas Cage. His reign as big-budget action hero coincided perfectly with me beginning to be allowed to watch R-rated movies. I distinctly remember my friend David’s dad taking him and I to see The Rock on a weekend afternoon when we were all of 12 years old. Recently I caught a bit of that film on TV somewhere and was really taken aback by how over the top Cage’s acting choices were. Who let him get away with those line deliveries? Looking back, I’m thankful that he was the action hero I grew up with. Poor kids growing up today with Jason Statham and Vin Diesel. I don’t care how cheesy, sappy and over-the-top Face/Off might be, I will take it over the entire Transformers series any day of the week. Castor Troy could easily take down both Optimus Prime and Megatron with sheer gusto!

Friday Quote: The Muppet Christmas Carol

"I, I will honor Christmas, and try to keep it all the year! I will live my life in the past, the present and the future. I will not shut out the lessons the spirits have taught me! Tell me that I may sponge out the writing on this stone!"

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

After being informed that an ex-lover (Kate Winslet) has had him removed from her memory, Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) decides to remove her from his. Midway through the procedure he changes his mind.

*      *      *

Though Charlie Kaufman’s concepts can be rather far out, they are always grounded in intense emotional reality. Even as things get crazier and crazier, the audience is still able to understand the yearnings and insecurities that are guiding the characters and their decisions, even if we would rather not admit it. Honestly, who wouldn’t want to erase a painful experience from their memory? Well thanks to a wonderful new process called filmmaking, these questions can now cease to be hypotheticals. By combining Kaufman’s wonderful script with Michel Gondry’s ingenious, low-fi visuals and the cast’s raw performances, viewers are able to literally watch memories disappear before their eyes. So what if a few good memories get lost in the shuffle? It’s only a movie right? This isn’t real! But then why do I have tears in my eyes?

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

It's the holiday season in Budapest, and the humble Matuschek and Company store is getting ready for their customers. Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) is the store's head clerk, and he's butting heads with new hire Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan). What they don't know is that they're actually falling in love with each other...as anonymous pen-pals!

Sound familiar? You've Got Mail (1998) is basically a remake, but this film is not to be overlooked! For one, this film was directed by the inimitable Ernst Lubitsch, whose films are marked by an easy sophistication, memorable characters, and great writing...this film is no different. The two leads play off each other nicely, and even the supporting characters start feeling like family, from the sweet and anxious clerk Pirovitch (Felix Bressart, who I LOVE), the lovable smart-ass errand boy Pepi (William Tracy), and the insufferable Vadas (Joseph Schildkraut), to blustery Mr. Matuschek himself (Frank Morgan). This film has light moments, romance, and heavy sorrows, but ultimately leaves you with warm fuzzy feelings. I watch this every year in December, and it's a tradition I'll continue for years to come.

Double-Bill: Women On The Verge

Opening Night and Inland Empire

The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (1976)

A proud strip club owner (Ben Gazzara) is forced to come to terms with himself as a man, when his gambling addiction gets him in hot water with the mob, who offer him only one alternative.

*      *      *

For much of John Cassavetes directorial career, "genre" was a dirty word. Though funded by acting in stuff like Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen, Cassavetes actively avoided including things like guns and gangsters in his directorial output. He wanted to tell human stories about real people. It wasn't until he befriended a young Martin Scorsese that he came to realize that these things didn't have to be mutually exclusive.

For my money, The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie is the greatest film ever made about the sacrifices one must make in order to succeed in the arts. It says it all! Through the power of allegory, Cassavetes is able to stand up for all the independents out there and by using a character like Cosmo Vittelli as our stand-in, he is able to proclaim that all forms of personal expression are valid, no matter how silly they might appear to the outside world. This was John Cassavetes' poison pen letter to the "gangsters" who hold the purse-strings and make us jump through hoops, and of course the handwriting is impeccable.

Friday Quote: The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza)

We're all on the brink of despair, all we can do is look each other in the face, keep each other company, joke a little... Don't you agree?

La grande bellezza (2013)

Seven Days In May (1964)

After The President (Fredric March) signs a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff begin plotting a coup d'etat.

*      *      *

Though I wouldn't go so far as to call this film a masterpiece, I love it for all the ways in which it deviated from the expectations set by its star, writer, director and subject matter. I went into this film expecting an unbelievably taught John Frankenheimer thriller (ie: The Manchurian Candidate), with a twist ending (courtesy of Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling) and lots of overly sincere, bleeding-heart speeches by liberal do-gooder Kirk Douglas. What I got instead was a rather calmly told and very well-articulated defense of our political process. There are even large chunks of this film where Douglas is nowhere to be found! And while the title alone might suggest a countdown to some sort of BIG moment, this film opts instead to end on a quiet note of subtle victory. As someone who watches lots of films, I live for little surprises like this. Hopefully reading this won't saddle your first viewing with unrealistic expectations....

About Time (2013)

Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) is a man with a secret. He, and the men in his family, can travel through time. His father (Bill Nighy) tells him about this gift on his 21st birthday, and while at first he uses it to get girls (understandably!) he eventually learns great life lessons and is able to enrich his life beyond anything he'd ever imagined.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I thought "Oh, cute. A rom-com with Rachel McAdams and one of the Weasleys." But it's so much more than that. True, it's about the relationship between Tim and Mary (McAdams), but it's also about Tim's relationship with his sister, with his father, and with his own insecurity and frustrations. Bill Nighy really shines in this. And yes, it's sentimental, but it has a lot more depth than you'd think. Gleeson and McAdams are great together, the story is sweet, and it's just a well done feel-good movie. I highly recommend this film if you feel like warming your heart a little bit. We could all use that once in a while.

Double-Bill: Second Verse, Same As The First...

Wall Street and Boiler Room

Hannah And Her Sisters (1986)

More than anything, Woody Allen's cinema was shaped by his years writing skits for Sid Caesar on Your Show Of Shows. Even the serious ones are built around a single, very concise and easy to pitch premise, that gets attacked from as many angles as possible, before getting wrapped up with a very clear message to take away. The exception to this rule is Hannah And Her Sisters. I wouldn't even know how to begin summarizing the plot. Sure the film literally ends with, Woody's character summarizing one plot-line, but what about all of the others? This film is packed to the gills with thoughts and ideas about art, religion, love and family. It's like Woody suddenly had the need to get literally EVERYTHING out of his system at once. Did he think he was dying? I'm not sure, but I'm glad this film exists. Like life itself, it is a beautiful, hilarious and touching mess that's all over far too quickly.