08/27/2002 Entry:
"Various bits and pieces"

Recent events have kept me from keeping up my update ratio as well as I might like. However, there's a new pinball on the street. If you see one anywhere, please drop a buck in and play a couple games. The industry thanks you. As a way of catching up, here are some brief notes on things I've seen recently

Full Frontal - Steven Soderbergh (2002)

I greatly enjoyed this goof-off, making Soderbergh one of the most consistently enjoyable directors of the last ten years or so. I've seen all his movies barring three (Schizopolis, Kafka, Gray's Anatomy) and Erin Brockovich is the only one I really didn't care for. The purposely bad DV paralleled with gorgeously shot 35mm made its point well, despite the fact that it was a little on the nose for me. It didn't really bother me since the rest of the movie was so much fun. A lot of really enjoyable performances although certainly none of these people were cast out of their stereotypes. I really enjoy David Hyde Pierce but he should stay away from the Niles types in films. Catherine Keener needs to find a part where she isn't totally neurotic too, I'm sure she can do it. That said, the scenes with her interviewing people in her office were among the film's most hilarious. I totally didn't see the final gag coming, but I wasn't shocked when it was revealed either, which is a testament to Soderbergh's ability to set it up in a way that worked without telegraphing it from the first reel. Robert Pollard's voice cranking from the rafters over the credits was just the icing on the cake. Its a little disheartening seeing that this has already pretty much vanished, seemingly destined to be regarded as a footnote in Soderbergh's career.

Maelstrom - Denis Villeneuve (2000)

I was intrigued by what I had read about this Canadian film, which left me with totally mixed feelings. On the good side, the film is gorgeously shot with these beautiful strong colors and deep blues. Villeneuve uses a lot of tight closeups with narrow focus, and its really effective and cool. It pulls in your attention to the most minute of details. The fish scenes were a total contrast (as I'm sure they were meant to be) being so dank and devoid of detail. There are a couple of amazing sequences which take place in a dance club. Strobe lights accenting angular movements which I could swear actually came from completely different scenes, serving to add a kind of cool awkward atmosphere. As a technical piece of filmmaking this was a winner. On the other hand, the story and characters left me feeling generally flat and unfulfilled. I'm starting to get sick of "look all our lives are interconnected" stories. And the whole "Good Morning Starshine" thing was just too much to bear. Looking nice and having a great mood can only go so far, even with someone like me who is a sucker for it.

ivans xtc

This film suffered from many of the same qualities as Maelstrom, except it didn't look nearly as good and its characters were even more despicable. I've never read "The Death Of Ivan Ilyich" so there may be some aspect of the source material I'm missing. I just couldn't see why I should give a shit about whether or not a cancer-suffering cocaine-addicted whoring boozing Hollywood agent lives or dies. I mean, my initial reaction is good riddance. Maybe that was the point, but I don't think so. There is a scene towards the end wherein Ivan is in bed at a hospital dying that has a really nice mood, and one towards the beginning with scenes of LA which does the same, but other than that I couldn't find much to interest me in this film at all.