Some B Grade Movies

I thought I'd start out this blog with a sample of some movies I have watched in each category. B-grade movies are really very good but with one or more serious flaws.

B

The Island

Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, Steve Buscemi.

Can you imagine the girl with a pearl earring slamming someone in the side of the head with a .45 automatic? Neither could I, but Scarlett is plausible as an action figure in this highly vehicular chase. Visual access to her body is controlled but she looks OK. She's much better as a dramatic actor. EM does a great job. They escape a clone farm used for organ harvesting. Thin story, totally derivative visuals (Matrix, Star Wars, the Fifth Element, even the 1984 Apple commercial). Schlock ending. "B" is generous.

B

Dot the i

Gael Garcia Bernal, Natalia Verbeke, James D'Arcy. Writer, Director = Matthew Parkhill

A riff on The Graduate. Young woman is set to marry rich man (JD) but is pursued by GGB. Secondary theme is GGB takes a videocam everywhere, which allows audience and other characters to know what has previously happened. Well made, attractive actors, engaging story, good music, but doesn't add up at the end - breaks the social contract.

B

Four Brothers

Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund. Dir = John Singleton

4 young men, 2 white, 2 black, have been adopted and raised by a single mother, who is murdered. They vow revenge, bullying gangs, cops and councilmen in Detroit to find the killer. Good acting, photography, music, sets. Story and script mostly tired cliche. A slow starter. Good gun battle. No mention of race is a relief.

B

Kings & Queens

Emmanuelle Devos, Katherine Deneuve; Mathieu Amalric; Dir = Arnaud Desplechin. French, subtitled

People live their lives in Paris. A woman's father is dying; her son doesn't like the stepdad, but the real dad is in a mental institution. Things like that. Some very funny lines & situations. The acting is so completely absorbing, it easily carries you across 2.5 hrs (!) of non-story.

B

Born Into Brothels

Zana Briski, Ross Kaufman, Dirs. English and Hindi (subtitled). Documentary.

ZB teaches photography to brothel children in Calcutta. As a human story it is a sentimental A+, But as a movie? The DVD version includes a 3 year follow-up and that makes the whole package rise to a B.

B

The Stratosphere Girl

Chloe Winkel. Writ, Dir=M.X. Oberg; Independent.

European girl works as a club hostess in Tokyo. It's a movie of a "manga," the Japanese comic books that spawned the anime style. It's realistic, not anime, but the costumes, wigs, story, sets, photog - everything - are all in the style of manga. The girl also draws in that style, so realism merges with drawing at times. Artistically stimulating, but pointless - has nothing to say.

B

Wal Mart: The high cost of low price

Robert Greenwald, prod, dir.

This documentary is a one-sided attack on Wal Mart. Balanced views vanished with Michael Moore. Studies show that WM is neither good nor evil - an economic wash in most towns. But the film shows convincingly that the company does not really believe in free markets when it comes to labor: it cheats. Greed trumps principle. So my mind is changed.

B

Schultze Gets the Blues

German, subtitled. Harald Warmbrunn; writ,dir = Michael Schorr

Retired miner in a German town plays polkas on his accordion. One day discovers Zydeco and begins a Homeric quest to Louisiana delta, showing the human psyche still developing even near the end of life. Not much story line. Perfect sets, casting, costumes. Enjoyable, long, fixed-frame shots.

B

Charisma

Japanese, subtitled. Dir=Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Charisma is an ancient rare tree in a Japanese forest. Some believe it is secreting toxin, poisoning the forest around. Should you preserve the rare one at the expense of the many? Perhaps the tree is the emperor; preserve him at all costs? There is supporting imagery for that but the director denies all meaning. Maybe. Chaotic but beautifully photo'd.

B

The Man Who Copied

Brazilian, in Portuguese, subtitled. Writ & Dir=Jorge Furtado

Young man works at a copy shop in Brazil, counterfeits a few 50s in order to win over a girl. 1st half is a well-written voice-over, making the pictures superfluous. 2d half, the writing falls apart and plot goes south. Original, convincing acting throughout.

B

Chrystal

Billy Bob Thornton, Lisa Blount

Slow talking BBT returns to Arkansas hometown after prison, tries to reconnect with wife LB. No real plot, just a collection of scenes, but the sense of Southern torpor is palpable. Spare and sharp dialog. Good acting. Faulkneresque.

B

Crash

Don Cheadle (he's everywhere!; also produced), Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Thandie Newton, others. Writer & Dir=Paul Haggis

Sets of ethnically different characters encounter each other randomly in LA. All are "racially" (ethnically) bigoted; most stereotypically. Trigger happy LAPD bullying blacks, young black men hijacking cars, Suburban whites terrified of blacks, Middle Easterners abused by ignorant redneck, etc. Not subtle. Vignettes rather than a real story. Some acting. Overall message: racism is bad. You heard it here first.

B

Funny Ha Ha

Kate Dollenmayer; Dir=Andrew Bujalski

A woman in her twenties hangs out with her friends, drinks, tries to get a job and a boyfriend. No real plot. Like Napoleon Dynamite for an older group, it is supposed to be a social mirror. The inarticulate dialog is realistic and charming at first but quickly becomes formulaic. Grainy hand-held photog. Reminiscent of Woody Allen's Three Sisters and even the Chekhov play. Worthy.

B

The Interpreter

Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn. Dir = Sidney Pollack

When the two best actors in America get together, expectations are high. They do competent work, especially Penn, but it is never electrifying. NK is a UN translator who overhears an assassination threat. SP is secret service, tries to thwart the plot, which is so complicated that characters are not bound by common sense . Pedestrian directing, photography.

B

Anatomy of Hell

French, Subtitled. Dir=Catherine Breillat

A woman with low self esteem pays a gay/bi guy to explore her body, to show him what "women are really like," e.g., with pubic hair, not shaved like porn stars, etc. Film attempts to demystify and even desexualize the female body, but the woman (and director) already accept the male valuation of it, undercutting the project. Lots of graphic sex and body parts, but it's a serious thesis, not porn. Not for prudes! Good idea, but not successful.

B

Prozac Nation

Christina Ricci, Jessica Lange

Terrific acting by Lange. Ricci is abrasive but gives a fine showing. Poor filmmaking spoils it all. Opening nude scene is without meaning: gratuitous boobs. Film does not show a descent into depression, only talks about it. Prozac is irrelevant. Talking heads only. A missed opportunity.

B

Sin City

Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Devon Aoki, Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Madsen. Dir = Robert Rodriquez, "Guest Director" Quentin Tarantino

Film adaptation, in the tradition of Dick Tracy, of a comic book by Frank Miller. Gorgeous visuals. Incoherent, repetitive story, hackneyed script, ho-hum acting except BDT. Some subtle digs at Reservoir Dogs and Harry Potter. Lots of bodily violence, gushers, etc - the QT effect. The visuals are comic book cliche but still an eye treat, better without sound.

B

DEBS

Sara Foster, Jordana Brewster, Devon Aoki, Meagan Good, Jill Ritchie

Charlie's Angels meets Spy Kids. College girls hunt bad guys mostly with catty dialog - very funny, but all the silliness frames a serious, well-told romance between two girls. Aoki does a great character well.

B

The Jacket

Adrien Brody, Keira Knightly, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Memento meets Groundhog day, with a mix of Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Cuckoo's Nest. Totally derivative. But there is just enough love story and good acting to keep it going. Fine photography.

B

Quads! Freak Parade

John Callahan (Animation)

A semi-autobiographical "story" by Callahan, the famous quadriplegic cartoonist. The drawings and text are characteristically his non-PC humor. His 1-panel cartoons are usually bull's-eyes but this romp lacks discipline, becomes just silly. Still it's a very fast 100 min. of laughs.

B

Napoleon Dynamite

John Heder. Writ, Dir = Jared Hess

Hess must be 14 years old because he perfectly captures details of the age group. Jr. Hi kids will recognize themselves. Napoleon is a geeky kid who wins some friends and finally applause in a fantasy-parody. No sex, violence or swearing, just real human drama. An original. Weak story line.

B

A Love Song For Bobby Long

John Travolta and Scarlett Johansson's lips

A Faulkneresque tale set in N'Orleans where everything is excused because of the damp heat. JT has a 2 day grizzle for weeks. How does that work? Story just goes on and on. Good editing, photog, sets. JT acts.

B

Vera Drake

Imelda Staunton

Elderly housekeeper moonlights by doing abortions in 1950 English town. She was "just helping young girls" but goes to jail. A pro-life theme but the moral issue is not raised. Good acting and wallpaper. A dark movie.

B

Beyond the Sea

Kevin Spacey (wrote, directed, starred) Kate Bosworth,John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Greta Sacchi, William Ulrich

Bobby Darin will never sing again. Once you accept that, Kevin Spacey does a good job imitating him. He squeaks past Mac the Knife, Splish Splash and others, and nails Beyond the Sea. His dancing is adequate but he doesn't know what to do with his hands. Ulrich, as the young Bobby, channels. Acting is flat all around, but inspired directing & music, wonderful costumes and sets. Weird casting.

B

Bad Education

Gael Garcia Bernal. Dir=Almodovar. Spanish, subtitled

Two 10-yr old boys were sexually abused by the priest in their Catholic school. Now young men, they seek revenge through blackmail. They are gay, one was a transvestite, replaced by a mistaken identity brother (?). The gay erotic theme is lost on me, and what's left is an old story with nothing much to add. Well acted, important topic, fine photog.

B

The Life Aquatic

Bill Murray, Kate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston

An apt parody of "Nature" adventure documentaries, specifically the Jacques Cousteau genre. Allusions to Star Trek, Nemo, and other films. The dry humor does not work well in such a goofy context. Highly creative, good acting, but no story or dramatic tension. OW does well being serious.

B

The Corporation

Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, others.

A well-made, engaging, documentary about corporate business in America. If the corporation were a person, which it legally is, what kind of a person would it be? A psychological profile, based on evidence, reveals a psychopath. Left-leaning, not well balanced, but compelling, even gut-wrenching at times. 2-CD set with 5 additional hours of interviews!

B

Closer

Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Clive Owen. Dir=Mike Nichols

Two couples fall in and out of love in hetero combinations. Plot points are arbitrary and characters are 2-D, unmotivated. They repeatedly declare their deepest love or lack of same, but there is no dramatic reason to believe it. The acting is scene by scene, since there is no possibility of character development. Even so, the results are amazing. Kudos to Nichols for that, but on the downside, the movie is offensively misogynist.

B

Sideways

Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh

4 adult characters hang out in CA wine country. Romance buds but news leaks that THC is to be married in a week, ruining everything. Laugh out loud wine snob jokes. Everyone acts their hearts out. But a writer's heavy hand leaves many scenes with no point. Chars are a collection of features, empty people. No plot, but funny and watchable.

B

Final Cut

Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino. Excellent photography: Dir of photog=Tak Fujimoto.

RW reprises 1-hour photo, but this time he edits "footage" from chips implanted at birth that record everything you ever see and hear. At death, he sanitizes your life story for the family. Entirely plot driven, and the plot is full of holes, but intriguing: the chip records your objectivity, not your subjectivity. Does that define a life?

B

Good Bye Lenin!

Dir=Wolfgang Becker. Daniel Bruhl, Katrine Sass. German, with subtitles.

An East German Woman goes into a coma for 8 mo. and misses the fall of the Berlin Wall. She revives and her family tries to protect her from the shock by pretending nothing has changed. A poignant, comedic comment on how totally disorienting that sudden change was for everybody in the East. Loses something in the cultural translation.

B

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth. A Miramax film that looks like a Disney, with characteristic themes: goal of female life is marriage. Pity.

A very lightweight romantic comedy that makes the grade thru sheer charm of the actors. Why RZ had to be plump is unclear- it adds nothing. She has 1000 faces. Story line is inconsistent. Some photographic moments. Cartoon characters. Low B

B

Ding-a-ling-LESS

Kirk Wilson. Writ, Dir=Onur Tukel. Dutch Indie, in English.

Basically, The Penis Dialogs. His penis was accidentally amputated as an infant. Now he awaits a donor for the transplant, meanwhile tries an artificial one. Every slapstick penis gag you can think of. Unlike the Vagina Monologues, the humor deflects serious commentary. Even the title shows that.

B

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

John Cho, Kal Penn

Guys smoke weed, get munchies, begin an odyssey to White Castle. They are college grads but the target audience is 12 yr old. "Dude" humor expresses anxiety about homoeroticism, body products, adult authority, and breasts, but not ethnicity, which is what makes it a likeable picture.

B

Code 46

Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton

Romance in the future. TR meets a girl on a business trip to China, falls in love, but DNA testing reveals that she is a 25% match to him, therefore they are forcibly separated. Makes you think: What is incest and why is it bad? Story is slow, pictures dark, acting depressed.

B

Collateral

Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith (Will's wife). Dir=Michael Mann.

TC is a hit man in LA who forces cab driver JF to take him around to his "appointments." TC looks good, does not embarrass himself. Ends abruptly, like they ran out of film. Characters do not develop. Very good directing.

B

Shaun of the Dead

Simon Pegg; Dir=Edgar Wright; British

A parody of the zombie movie; Mild mannered store clerk ends up bashing zombies to oblivion with a cricket bat. Good acting, funny script. Watchable.

B

I, Robot

Will Smith, Bridgette Moynahan

Fab special effects and WS is cute. Brings up some thoughtful points for those who have never heard of Asimov. Quotes Forbidden Planet, 2001, and some others. Lots of close up mikes on slamming doors for no reason. Action for the sake of action. Boring.

B

The Bourne Supremacy

Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Brian Cox.

The Fugitive, with amnesia. MD is expressionless and JA is no Tommy Lee Jones. Story is engaging, tho it has no reason for beginning. Brian Cox is a standout, the only real actor. The "music" is all percussive.

B

Derrida

Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, and of course, Jacques Derrida

Documentary of the important philosopher's life (died, 2004). He is genuinely provocative, and likable. His thoughts are alive and creative at every moment. His work is surveyed briefly and lightly. The man is evident. Not a balanced view, but good.

B

Saved

Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Eva Amurri.

Teenage life at a Jesus high school. Parody of evangelical zeal and brainwashing. A ham-acted sitcom, but funny, socially relevant, and very well acted, esp. by EA, in a star-making role, who plays a Jewish transfer student .

B

Man on Fire

Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken

Hackneyed tale of DW as burned out, alcoholic ex-CIA assassin (amazing how many of those there are!) coming out of retirement to bodyguard a child in Mexico City. He loses the kid, sobers up, and finally, at 1 hour, begins his KillBill revenge list. Meaningless photog and music. Good acting. Reminiscent of Silence of the Rain, a Brazilian novel.

B

The Weather Underground

Documentary of the radical revolutionary group of the 60's

Fascinating story with archival footage of the individuals, then and now. How ordinary hippies became terrorists. What's chilling is that even as adults, they still don't know what they were doing.

B

Leo

Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Hopper, Deborah Unger, Elizabeth Schuh

An ex con tells his story in flashback but he somehow merges with or relives the memory. Totally confusing. Reminiscent of Spider. JF gives an electric performance. Hopper does his menacing nutcase, large. Tough roles for the women, but they act their hearts out.

B

Kill Bill Vol 2

Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Darryl Hannah, Michael Madsen

A completely different movie from Vol 1. Swords are whooshed around unnecessarily, but there is no blood. Fight scenes are all in flashback. She does finally kill him, but there is no psychological drama, no operatic spectacle. MM does a great job. Looks like a movie started from the cutting room floor of Vol 1.

B

I Am Dina

Norweigan, in English. Maria Bonnevie. Gerard Depardieu. Subtitled.

Girl in a Norwegian seaside town causes an accident that kills her mother. She becomes feral from guilt and blame. Cello teacher brings her back in. Grows up quasi feral but a fierce cello player. It defies women's stereotypical roles, without flipping right over to hired killers. Character never develops, story zigs and zags arbitrarily. Excellent music, scenery, sense of place.

B

Big Fish

Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Dir=Tim Burton

Dying man tells surreal stories of life in flashbacks. He knows how he will die and so is fearless. Beautiful photography, surreal directing. Acting is cartoony, as in O Brother, but without the wit.

B

Somethings Gotta Give

Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet

Diane Keaton has great teeth and can manufacture a smile as effective as Tom Cruise's. But would an existentialist feminist writer slap her thighs in uncontrollable mirth? A charming romance between older people, but 2-D, not real.

B

School of Rock

Jack Black, Joan Cusak, Really cute kids

Loser rocker teaches kids at a private school to be a rock band. Disneyesque story. Good music. JB is so far over the top he becomes obnoxious. Cusack steals every scene she's in. Not enough camera on the kids.

B

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek.

A spaghetti western in Mexico. Funny, with over the top surrealism, but half the time it takes itself seriously. Slightly off key. No sense of place. Enjoyable. Good extra on digital filming.

B

Northfork

Nick Nolte, Darryl Hannah, James Woods

Men in black, govt agents, but also metaphorical grim reapers, evacuate a town to be flooded by a dam. Some won't leave and build an ark. Biblical imagery throughout. Visually stunning. Colors like O Brother. Weird.

B

Tekno-Lust

Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Davies

3 women are self-replicating computer automatons of a mad scientist. They must drink sperm to survive. They migrate out of the computer into the world, catch a computer virus, learn to love. Social satire with feminist themes. My wife loved it. I am less enthusiastic.

B

Life + Debt

Unknown

A documentary on economic effects of globalization of farming and some manufacturing, in Jamaica. Very one-sided but a compelling statement of that side. Changed my mind some.

B

The Others

Nicole Kidman with a great cast

NK is nuts, runs a huge manor home, has 3 servants who turn out to be ghosts. Ends up she and her kids are also ghosts but didn't know it. Huh? Really bad music helpfully indicates where the horror is. Great acting - NK.

B

The Man From Elysian Fields

Mick Jagger, Andy Garcia, Julianne Margules

Sir Mick is head pimp of an escort service joined by Garcia. Jagger is deliciously over the top.

B

Ice Age

Cartoon

Neanderthal ice age changes to warm. Well drawn, good voices, very funny. Not just for kids.