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SCREENING
LOG - 2003
Back
to Diary
New releases
in red; strong recommendations
in bold. Click on dates for reviews.
December
12/22-12/28
LORD
OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, 21 GRAMS, COLD
MOUNTAIN, IN AMERICA
and SEABISCUIT
12/15-12/21
ANATAHAN, THE
LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, TALES OF HOFFMANN and
KILLER OF SHEEP
12/8-12/14
OPENING NIGHT,
THE LACEMAKER, TWILIGHT OF THE ICE NYMPHS, ARCHANGEL,
THE DUELLISTS, LONG DAY'S JOUNEY INTO NIGHT, THE
DEVIL PROBABLY, THE HEART OF THE WORLD and OUTRAGEOUS!
12/1-12/7
LATE AUGUST EARLY
SEPTEMBER, PROVIDENCE, CITIZENS' BAND a/k/a HANDLE WITH
CARE, PTU, THE GETTING OF
WISDOM, and OASIS.
November
11/24-11/30
KHRUSTALYOV, MY
CAR!, ONIBABA, MAN OF MARBLE, THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA
VON KANT, LOVE ACTUALLY,
HOLIDAY and PADRE PADRONE
11/17-11/23
HOLES,
ROPE, MOUCHETTE, IN COLD BLOOD and I WAS
NINETEEN
11/10-11/16
THRONE OF BLOOD,
HAPPINESS (SCHASTYE), EARLY SPRING IN FEBRUARY, LA
BELLE NOISEUSE, UNE FEMME DOUCE, THE FLAVOR OF
GREEN TEA OVER RICE, OEDIPUS REX, DESPERATE LIVING,
and ELEPHANT
11/3-11/9
THE SEVENTH SEAL,
TWELVE ANGRY MEN, TOKYO-GA, EARLY SUMMER, PATHS OF
GLORY, DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY, 25TH
HOUR, TWO FOR THE ROAD and PORTRAIT OF JASON
October
10/27-11/2
From the Ozu retrospective
at Lincoln Center: DRAGNET GIRL, PASSING FANCY, A MOTHER
SHOULD BE LOVED, A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS, LATE
AUTUMN and END OF SUMMER. Also, IL GRIDO, THE
STATION AGENT, PYAASA, THE LOWER DEPTHS,
NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
and THOSE WHO LOVE ME CAN TAKE THE TRAIN.
10/20-10/26
EQUINOX FLOWER,
QUEEN MARGOT, WOMAN OF TOKYO, THAT NIGHT'S WIFE, TOKYO
TWILIGHT, AU HASARD BALTHAZAR, THE LADY AND THE
BEARD, TOKYO CHORUS, THE CRANES ARE FLYING,
KANAL, ASHES AND DIAMONDS and WHERE NOW ARE THE DREAMS
OF YOUTH?
10/13-10/19
From the New York
Film Festival I watched CRIMSON GOLD,
GOODBYE DRAGON INN, DISTANT and RAJA.
I also watched A DOUBLE LIFE, THE MUNEKATA SISTERS,
RAISE THE RED LANTERN, ODD MAN OUT, KILL
BILL, NIGHT AND FOG, and A KING IN NEW YORK.
10/06-10/12
THE
SECRET LIVES OF DENTISTS,
KAGAMIJISHI, WHAT DID THE LADY FORGET?, DAYS OF YOUTH,
I GRADUATED, BUT..., I FLUNKED, BUT..., RECORD OF A TENEMENT
GENTLEMAN, BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TODA FAMILY,
WALK CHEERFULLY, THERE WAS A FATHER, A STRAIGHTFORWARD
BOY, A HEN IN THE WIND and BODY AND SOUL.
9/29-10/05
From the
New York Film Festival I watched MYSTIC
RIVER, DOGVILLE and S21:
THE KHMER ROUGE KILLING MACHINE. I also watched
T-MEN, IN THIS WORLD,
THE FUGITIVE (1947), BRUTE FORCE, LIFE ON A STRING
and MAN ON THE TRACKS.
September
9/22-9/28
DEMONLOVER,
SHALL WE DANCE, TO BE AND TO HAVE,
MR. WEST IN THE LAND OF THE BOLSHEVIKS, L.I.E., THE
MAGDALENE SISTERS, RIO GRANDE, YOUNG AND
INNOCENT, HUMANITY AND PAPER BALLOONS, GANGS
OF NEW YORK, CROSSFIRE and THE GHOST AND MRS.
MUIR
9/15-9/21
GILDA,
THE
LADY FROM SHANGHAI, ONCE
UPON A TIME, LOST IN TRANSLATION
and
15.
9/08-9/14
PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN, X2: X-MEN
UNITED, OWNING MAHOWNY, XALA, STORY OF A PROSTITUTE,
THE IRON HORSE, AMERICAN SPLENDOR,
STAGE DOOR, ASHIK KERIB, DEAD MAN, and BLACK CAT, WHITE
CAT.
9/01-9/07
THE COLOR OF
POMEGRANATES and WHALE RIDER.
August
8/25-8/31
BERLIN:
SYMPHONY OF A CITY, THE
SEARCHERS,
THE END OF ST. PETERSBURG, DONOVAN'S
REEF,
THE GENERAL, DIRTY
PRETTY THINGS,
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, RHAPSODY IN AUGUST, THE
PLAYHOUSE, COPS,
and CHANG.
8/18-8/24
BITTER VICTORY,
DESTINY (1921), SCARLET STREET, THE BIG HEAT,
THE INFORMER, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, THE THIN
RED LINE, FORT APACHE, THE TERRORIZERS,
ALIENS and WAGONMASTER
8/11-8/17
FLOATING WEEDS,
WOMAN
OF TOKYO, THE DAMNED,
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THIS
SPORTING LIFE, IN THE HEAT OF THE SUN,
RATCATCHER, THE BIG COMBO and
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
8/04-8/10
THE LEOPARD,
KNIFE IN THE WATER, DAISIES, CUL-DE-SAC, THE SHOP ON
MAIN STREET, ROSE HOBART, SNOW WHITE (1916) and
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
July
7/28-8/03
FAMILY
PLOT, MR. KLEIN, BOUND FOR GLORY, FACE TO FACE, BEING
THERE, SUMMER WITH MONIKA, THE
PIANO TEACHER and THE LIFE OF OHARU.
7/21-7/27
LOLA, shorts
by D.W. Griffith, THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN, UN
CHIEN ANDALOU, LAS HURDES, THE TOLL OF THE SEA, BLACKMAIL
and JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK
7/14-7/20
THE UMBRELLAS
OF CHERBOURG, LES DAMEOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT, THE
KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, HERO,
VIOLENT COP, IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES, SONATINE,
and TAXI DRIVER
7/7-7/13
LA RELIGIEUSE/THE
NUN, CABIN IN THE SKY, CAPTURING
THE FRIEDMANS, SUSPIRIA, JONAH WHO WILL BE 25
IN THE YEAR 2000, MESSIDOR, FELLINI'S CASANOVA,
SEVEN BEAUTIES, STREET ANGEL (1928), THE MARQUISE
OF O and THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH
6/30-7/6
INTIMATE CONFESSIONS
OF A CHINESE COURTESAN, VENGEANCE!,
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, COME DRINK WITH ME, GOLDEN SWALLOW,
A BETTER TOMORROW, PROJECT
A, LA
GUERRE EST FINIE, FIGHTING ELEGY, BANQUET/HAO
MEN YE YAN,
THE LIN
FAMILY SHOP.
June
6/23-6/29
THE PORNOGRAPHERS,
THE HUNT, HUSBANDS, DAY FOR NIGHT, DAY OF THE LOCUST, VIOLENCE
AT NOON, DEATH OF A BUREAUCRAT, TOKYO DRIFTER, BLOOD
BROTHERS, ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, MARAT/SADE, SEVEN WOMEN,
SWORD OF DOOM, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and IRMA
VEP.
6/16-6/22
CRIME WAVE, SHADOWS,
OLD SCHOOL and FACES
6/9-6/15
SPELLBOUND
(2002), MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW, SHOW BOAT,
THE KILLING, THE BURMESE HARP, THE WRONG
MAN, STREET OF SHAME, WEEKEND and EARLY
SPRING
6/2-6/8
THE LAST BOLSHEVIK,
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANDREI ARSENEVICH,
INFERNAL AFFAIRS, HUKKLE,
IN A YEAR OF 13 MOONS, LILYA 4-EVER,
and INN AT TOKYO.
May
5/26-6/1
No reviews this
week. Check out www.livejournal.com/users/onguard
to see what I was preoccupied with at this time.
5/19-5/25
I watched THE
SIXTY MILLION DOLLAR MAN ($8). Check out www.livejournal.com/users/onguard
to see what I was preoccupied with at this time.
5/12-5/18
The only movie
I saw in its entirety was THE MATRIX
RELOADED (2003, Wachowski Bros.) I suppose I needed
the break. $8 for the action sequences, $5 for the pseudophilosophy
($7 for the effort, $3 for the result), $7 for trying to compensate
for the lack of racial diversity in STAR WARS (with Cornell
West in the cast, no less!), $3 for ripping off sets and ideas
from STAR WARS and LORD OF THE RINGS (the chief flaw, as well
as the chief virtue, of THE MATRIX franchise has been its
smorgasbord re-incorporation of preexisting formulas, ranging
from insipid to inspired), $8 for a very naughty Monica Bellucci
(even though she looks like she's past her gravity-defying
prime ) for an overall value of $6 (only $2.50 less than what
I paid). I should have gone to see the new Guy Maddin movie
instead...
Also the first
20 min. of MODERN TIMES (1936, Charles Chaplin) --
genius has no price tag.
5/5-5/11
Only one title
stands out: Playtime (1967, Jacques Tati) third viewing
-- $10 and change. I also vaguely remember watching... Monrak
Transistor (2002, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang) -- $6 fragments
of Vive L'Amour (1994, Tsai Ming-Liang) -- $8 Les
Carabiniers (1963, Jean-Luc Godard) -- $7 The first 20
minutes of L'Argent (1984, Robert Bresson) -- $10 scenes
here and there of The Matrix (1999, Wachowski Bros.) second
viewing -- $6 deleted scenes from In the Mood for Love
(2000, Wong Kar Wai) -- $8: $7 for the scenes themselves,
$10 for the DVD containing them and a wealth of supplemental
riches. Krapp's Last Tape (1999, Atom Egoyan) -- $8
($10 for the source material, $6 for the direction) and the
first half of A Boy and His Dog (1975, L.Q. Jones) $6 (basically
very interesting, but also reminded me of Peckinpah in the
worst ways)
4/28-5/4
No reviews this
week. Check out www.livejournal.com/users/onguard
to see what I was preoccupied with at this time.
April
4/21-4/27
These will be my
weakest reviews b/c I simply don't have time for more, and
I don't think I'll be reviewing at all for a while. But I'll
miss talking to y'all, and to show my appreciation I'll even
break my taboo and regress to the crude (but honest -- after
all if you're going to reduce a film to a numbered-object
you might as well go all the way) rating system I used to
use: Last week I watched (Out of a scale of $10 -- anything
$7 and up is worth an evening at the cineplex -- anything
less is a matinee or a rental): No Regrets for our Youth
(1946, Akira Kurosawa) $7 Guns and Talks
(2002, Jin Jang) $6 Raising Victor
Vargas (2002, Peter Sollett) $7 The Only Son
(1936, Yasujiro Ozu) $9 Marooned in
Iraq (2002, Bahman Gobhadi) $6 Vampyr (1932,
Carl Dreyer) $9
4/14-4/20
No reviews this
week. Check out www.livejournal.com/users/onguard
to see what I was preoccupied with at this time.
4/7-4/13
WAITING
FOR HAPPINESS, BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD, BOOK OF RULES, SCUMROCK,
NOT A DAY GOES BY, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, MARION BRIDGE,
and CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES.
3/31-4/6
WILD
BERRIES,
DODSWORTH, L'HUMANITE, THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI, SABOTAGE,
THE MISSING GUN, UGETSU MONOGATARI,
THE LAST LAUGH, and THREE.
March
3/24-3/30
MY
SASSY GIRL,
CHERYOMUSHKI (SONG OVER MOSCOW), SISTERS OF THE GION
and STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTEHMUMS
3/17-3/23
THE CHECHAHCOS,
MOTHER KUSTERS GOES TO HEAVEN, SECRET DEFENSE, FULLTIME
KILLER, FURY, FRANKENSTEIN, BEAUTY AND
THE BEAST, BIGGER THAN LIFE and JAPON
3/10-3/16
LOVES OF A BLONDE,
THE LIFE OF JESUS, GANG OF FOUR, SO
CLOSE, shorts by Chaplin and 'ROUND MIDNIGHT
3/03-3/09
SPEEDY, LEON/THE
PROFESSIONAL, SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, SPRING IN A SMALL
TOWN, STAGE SISTERS, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, SHOLAY, THE
AWFUL TRUTH, OKLAHOMA, LE SAMOURAI and TEN
February
2/24-3/02
UZUMAKI
, FOX AND HIS FRIENDS, MURDERERS ARE AMONG US, EL,
MIKKAEL, SANS SOLEIL and shorts by Charlie Chaplin
2/17-2/23
IN A LONELY
PLACE, DOUBLE SUICIDE, THE DANGEROUS
LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS, CHIHWASEON, films by Edwin
S. Porter, FORBIDDEN GAMES, HELL'S HINGES, THE TOLL
GATE, HERO, EYES
WITHOUT A FACE, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, ALL
THE REAL GIRLS, THE MAGIC FLUTE, COME AND SEE, and
OCTOBER
2/10-2/16
SPIDER,
THE KID BROTHER, BLISSFULLY YOURS,
THE BLUE KITE, DERSU UZALA, and BATTLE
ROYALE
2/03-2/09
CITY
OF GOD, DIVINE INTERVENTION, THE ROAD,
JOHNNY GUITAR, LONE WOLF AND CUB: SWORD OF VENGEANCE,
SEAFOOD, PICNIC AT HANGING
ROCK, CLOSE-UP, LES VAMPIRES (episodes 1-4), MASTER
OF THE HOUSE, and HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES
January
1/27-2/02
THE WICKER MAN,
IT'S ALL TRUE, THE LEOPARD MAN, HAMLET, A BRIGHTER
SUMMER DAY, MR. ARKADIN, and CHICAGO
1/20-1/26
MURIEL,
THE PIANIST, THE CLOCK,
NOSFERATU, RUNNING ON EMPTY, A CANTERBURY TALE and
ALPHAVILLE
1/13-1/19
KISS ME DEADLY,
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, THE QUIET AMERICAN,
F FOR FAKE, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER, LE
FILS/THE SON, INCIDENT AT BLOOD PASS, and LES
DAMES DE BOIS DU BOLOGNE
1/06-1/12
DAYS OF HEAVEN,
MORVERN CALLAR, BRING IT ON,
25TH HOUR and TROUBLE
IN PARADISE
12/30-1/05
THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, THE HOURS, ADAPTATION,
ICHI THE KILLER,
JEROME, WHERE IS MY FRIEND'S HOME? and THROUGH THE
OLIVE TREES
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