Miracle at St. Anna

Spike Lee has made films longer than Miracle at St. Anna (Malcolm X, When the Levees Broke), but none is the tour de force that this adaptation of James McBride's novel becomes before your eyes. Leisurely paced, beautifully realized and wonderfully lensed Miracle at St. Anna deserves to be on your must see list.
The story starts in the early 80s when a postal clerk shoots a customer buying stamps. There's a couple of brief appearances by John Tuturro as a cop and John Leguizamo as an Nazi art dealer, as well as a more sustained turn by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a reporter who propels the story into its WWII flashback.
Once we begin the true story we are walking in the footsteps of the Buffalo soldiers of the 92nd division of the army stationed in Tuscany in 1944. After their squad is wiped out four troops (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller) find themselves behind enemy lines and holed up in a small village. Subplots involve a group of Italian partisans, referred to by the Germans as terrorists (shades of Homeland Security in one scene) and a German soldier who deserts after he witnesses a massacres of over 100 Italian civilians. This particular incident is based on an actual moment in history known as the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre where over 500 old men, priests, women and children were taken out Nazi villain style.
The action plays out in Italian, German, and English which only lends credence to the reality that Lee portrays. There is a miracle that will shake your soul. Several foreign actors share center stage including actress Valentina Cervi who was recently seen in one of the Pupi Avati films that played at the local museum last week. There are additional flashbacks within the flashbacks (a tense standoff at a racist Louisiana diner) that add dimension to the film's structure.
It's a tough movie landscape out there, with Shia and chihuahuas competing for your attention. Tack on the economy going into a tailspin. It's a wonder that a brilliant film like this can get the attention it deserves. When events finally wrap it's on a pristine Caribbean beach and there's actually a moral. Miracle at St. Anna will astound audiences whether its now or later.

Paul Newman 1925 - 2008

Lakeview Terrace

Remember a film from the early 90s called Unlawful Entry, with Ray Liotta, Madeleine Stowe, Kurt Russell? A cop terrorizes a suburban couple and there's nothing they can do. Well, Lakeview Terrace, despite a trailer that suggests it's the same, is not the same.
Yes, there are the same elements of a cop from hell that has it in for a couple that's just moved in next door, but under the direction of Neil LaBute Lakeview Terrace has more underlying racial menace, and a bit more psychological depth at least until its typical ending.
Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington are newly married and the new next door neightbors to single father Samuel L. Jackson. Labute makes a point of showing that while Jackson is a bit of an asshole to his new neighbors because they are an interracial couple, he's also trying to raise his two kids with a sense of righteousness. Okay so he's a caring father and a bad cop. But while Wilson and Washington make a perfect couple there's hints that Wilson isn't quite the man that Washington thinks she married. This ambiguity plays out while a wildfire burns offscreen during the first two acts.
When the fire gets too close for comfort near the end, obviously a metaphor for the friction between the neighbors, the wide shots of the flames across the valley from the neighborhood (Lake View Terrace is an actual suburb in the San Fernando Valley) add a dramatic weight that's balanced by what now must be a battle to the death between Jackson and Wilson.
Lakeview Terrace provides solid genre entertainment. You may be surprised at who you root for at different points in the film.

In Search of A Midnight Kiss

In Search of A Midnight Kiss starts with Wilson (Scoot McNairy) Photoshopping the face of Min (Kathleen Luong), his roommate's (Jacob played by Brian McGuire) girlfriend onto a picture of a naked chick and jacking off to it. Naturally Jacob and Min walk in on Wilson's act, slightly reminiscent of Spanking the Monkey (although in that film it was a German Shepherd who was trying to watch). Rather than take it personally Wilson's roomies talk him into placing an ad on Craiglist so he doesn't have to spend New Year's Eve alone.
ISOAMK has a lot going for it: the film looks glorious in black and white; there's plenty of witty lines even if a few feel sit-comish; the whole thing is a true indie labor of love. As directed by Alex Holdridge the film takes ideal love and the concept of the date from hell to new heights. Imagine my surprise when I found out this slick film was shot on a Sony Z1U, essentially a 5-grand camera that anybody can buy. ISOAMK was shot guerilla style (no permits per se) and follows Wilson on his date with Vivian (Sara Simmonds) who answers his CL ad by telling him she's "300 pounds, likes bondage and into Hello Kitty." Of course Vivian's anything but.
Over the course of their date Wilson and Vivian bond, which entails facing off with her psycho ex-boyfriend and kissing at the stroke of midnight. There's a Texas angle to some of the lines, not surprising since Holdridge and company made a couple of films in Austin earlier this decade. There's a moral dilemma that Wilson must face (involving Min) and Viv has a penchant for taking photos of lost shoes that has a spin-off website that cleverly actually exists (thelostshoeproject.com).
In Search of A Midnight Kiss is the real deal - a low budget romantic comedy that emotionally bonds the audience with its characters, provides some laughs and leaves you quixotically happy.

Choke

Weak hearts will choke but if you love perverse humor then Choke, based on a novel by the seditious Chuck (Fight Club) Palahniuk will grab your throat and not let go. The story revolves around a sex addiction recovery group. The title comes from an obsession Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) has to force himself to choke on food in public in order that strangers will help save his life.
Victor visits his mother (Anjelica Huston as Ida Mancini) in an asylum, only she's his mum because she kidnapped him as a youngster. A typical flashback shows young Victor and Ida in a restaurant and the carton of milk has his "have you seen this child" picture on it. The other characters are just as bizarre including a doctor (Kelly Macdonald) who looks after Ida and will only have sex with Victor in the hospital chapel.
Victor works as an actor in a Colonial American village, a kind of tourist trap where people go to see how life was in the 18th century. Victor's boss, Clark Gregg (also the director) rides his ass whenever the least infraction occurs.
The humor tends to be graphic, for instance Victor imagines he's having sex with every old, haggard woman that walks into the frame. The sex addiction therapy sessions are pretty raucous too. I didn't even recognize the group leader (a problem with trannies) was Joel Grey until the end credits. Not for everyone, Choke consistently seeks out weird situations and then milks them for laughs. In fact, it kind of reminds of the type of humor that was found in 1970s era National Lampoon magazines.

Sixty Six

A nebbish lad's barmitzvah falls on the same day as the World Cup championship game in 1966. This unassuming English movie from 2006 provides solid wholesome entertainment and has a father-son arc that should guarantee it playtime with families who watch flicks together. There's a few familiar faces like Helena Bonham Carter as the mom who holds her brood together and Stephen Rea in a small underwritten role as a teacher. Eddie Marsan (was the main bad guy in Hancock) plays the patriarch who lives in the shadow of his more successful brother. The lad does everything he can to sabotage England going to the finals but as you can guess that was the year they actually scored. The ending lifts the viewer up where they belong. Sixty Six is a small film, but one with a big heart.

OSS 117

OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies (OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions) works on so many levels - espionage thriller, comic parody, spy satire - it's a wonder to behold. This 2006 Frencyh import has the smarts and laughs that the recent Get Smart failed to provide. Based on a secret agent created by author Jean Bruce in the late 40s, the series technically came before Ian Fleming's James Bond although the French films of the 50s and 60s were less intentionally comical.

Jean Dujardin stars as the eponymous French agent who arrives in 1950s Cairo during Nasar's transition from French speaking underling to independent Arabic speaking country. He's a self professed asshole and even interrupts the pre-dawn Muslim prayer because it's disturbing his sleep. In disguise as a chicken farm owner OSS 117, whose real name is Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, starts to weasel his way around the contacts made by the previous agent Jack who's mysteriously disappeared. There are a couple of femme fatales as there always are in stories like this.

The filmmakers give the movie the feel of a 60s spy caper with the proper cinematography and sets that evoke both the 50s era and the look of 60s James Bond films. The action ranges from typical spy meller stuff (fisticuffs in steam rooms) to romantic liaisons that turn deadly. The best thing is how smooth the whole operation flows. Just when you think OSS 117 is a complete bungler he changes pace and accomplishes his mission with suave moves. Highly recommended for regular fans of foreign films as well as adventure mavens.

Burn After Reading

Funny how a little natural disaster can change your perspective of the movies. Sitting in an air conditioned theater at the Edwards Grand Palace a few days after the disaster of Ike, watching Burn After Reading, a character utters the line: "Do you have any bottled water?"
"There's tap water."
"Are you kidding? Tap water."
This line got quite a laugh from the hunkered masses in the darkened theater although it's doubtful the same line was as funny to people in other cities.
Burn After Reading is pure Coen Brothers anarchy. On one hand its a spy thriller but the other appendage concerns neurotic adulterous couples playing musical beds. Among the films of the Coens its a middling venture, certainly not on the level of No Country For Old Men or The Big Lebowski. Of course, middling Coen Brothers provides far more entertainment than typical Hollywood dross.
George Clooney plays a Federal Marshall who cheats on his wife via the internet. That's how he meets Frances McDormand who works with Brad Pitt and Richard Jenkins at a fitness center. Clooney's also having an affair with Tilda Swinton a hammering harpy whose married to John Malkovich. Malkovich, a CIA analyst who has just been demoted, says "fuck" about 100 times and each time it's pretty fucking funny. David Rasche (does anybody remember Sledgehammer?) and J. K. Simmons are higher ups at the Agency and as such serve as the film's Greek chorus since they're covertly spying on the activities of everyone else. These guys give Burn After Reading an Anderson Tapes feel since they deem it necessary to erase all the tapes, or more literally burn all the bodies.
There's some serious Coen Brothers rhyming going on with motifs from their previous films. At one point McDormand demands of Pitt, "Where's the money?" Which echoes the line: Where's the money Lebowski? Although Burn After Reading has very little actual violence the last reel contains one of the most explicit murder scenes your humble wind weary scribe has ever seen. A big part of the realism of said muder comes from the use of CGI. Remember in No Country For Old Men where that guy gets a hole blown into his forehead by that pneumatic hammer that Javier Bardem carries around. Combine that with the scene at the end of Fargo where Peter Stomare runs after Steve Buscemi with an axe. In that film the scene cuts right before the blade makes bodily contact. In Burn After Reading the weapon is a hatchet and we see it gash a human head before the editor cuts. Burn After Reading may be a minor work from the Coens but the overall effect is similar to listening to your favorite group sing a familiar song using their signature chords.

DVD reprise

Theaters are full now because they have a.c. and electricity but once power is restored a few DVD compilations promise to keep viewers glued to their sets. First up is a documentary from 2003 that has just been released on disc.
The Mindscape of Alan Moore features a head-on conversation with the creator of some of the best graphic novels over the last generation. Born in the UK Alan Moore is a modern magus. The film starts out simply enough with Moore recounting his humble beginnings like working in a tannery where for fun the workers threw animal parts at each other. Eventually Moore's writing won him an award that took him to America and as writer for the comic Swamp Thing. Moore explains that the award process was bestowed by a group so small he was surprised the reception he got in the US.
As the conversation goes on Moore completely astounds the viewer with his knowledge of world history and comparative religion. Before the titles roll the viewer has been taken to a point high above normal existence and given a view of the world reserved for great thinkers. Perhaps my favorite part was Moore illustrating inventions throughout history and then suggesting that by the year 2015 human knowledge will double ever second.
The Mindscape of Alan Moore is nicely packaged in a slipcase and comes with a second disc that contains approximately three hours of interviews with artists that have collaborated on his graphic novels: Melinda Gebbie (Lost Girls), Dave Gibbons (Watchman), David Lloyd (V For Vendetta), Kevin O'Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), among others. Extras on the first disc include composer and director interviews.


How appropriate that The Smothers Bothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season Three debuts on DVD in this current election year. Many of the events depicted on the four discs mirror our current political election cycle. In April of 1969 the Smothers Brothers were unceremoniously fired from CBS by right wing executives in support of the Nixon administration. Many of the then deleted segments (an incendiary interview with anti-war activist Dr. Benjamin Spock, or Joan Baez referring to her husband in jail for refusing the draft), as well as a complete show that was banned (due to David Steinberg's wild religious skewing fable) are included here.
Many of the variety style skits seem quaintly old fashioned and even the George Carlin segment is lacking in what was to become his question-authority style, yet the politics of the show's writers and Tom and Dick Smothers shines through. The entire fourth disc is dedicated to Pat Paulsen (a regular on the show) and his 1968 Presidential campaign. CBS ran a special one-hour show, narrated in home town tones by Henry Fonda, that mocked that election. There's even a clip of fellow Democratic candidate Senator Robert Kennedy playing along with the joke.
The extras are a true adventure including long form interviews with the participants. With guests like George Harrison (he was still a Beatle at this point), The Doors, filmmaker Chuck Braverman, Harry Belfonte and prolific writers that included Rob Reiner, Steve Martin, Super Dave Osborne, and Mason Williams (who also composed "Classical Gas") it's very easy to overlook some of the episodes more prosaic moments. Spend time with this set and you'll agree we need the Smothers Brothers now more than ever.