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Go tell it on the mountain

The cinetrix would be remiss in her cinematic duties if she didn't point out there's an al fresco two-fer afoot this weekend at Cinespia.

gates at 7:30 pm, film at 9:00 pm
hollywood forever cemetery
6000 santa monica boulevard at gower
no reservation necessary.
$10 donation tickets available at gate.
as a courtesy to other movie-goers: no tall chairs

On Saturday, June 16, tie on your aprons for Rebel without a Cause

"My heroes are no more neurotic than the audience. unless you can feel that a hero is just as f**ked up as you are and that you would make the same mistakes that he would make, you can have no satisfaction when he does commit a heroic act." -- Nicholas Ray

And on Sunday, June 17, freak out to Alejandro Jodorowsky's trippy 1973 epic The Holy Mountain

Championed by John Lennon, and adored by the counter-culture, this sweeping psychedelic epic is Jodorowsky's masterwork. surreal, shocking and breathtakingly beautiful, Holy Mountain is the pinnacle of avant garde filmmaking. the alchemist guides his disciples through a phantasmagoric landscape to the holy mountain so that they might confront the gods. For thirty years the film was not shown theatrically and is only now being rediscovered by new generations. Don't miss the opportunity to see this rare and beautiful gem under the stars and open sky.

[Due to nudity and some shocking imagery, this film is not appropriate for children under 17.]

What is the letter we love?

Whaddaya want from me? It's Friday, and the cinetrix spent last weekend at her college reunion, where she wished the official songs were as catchy as this.

Be sure to tune in next week for my late-nite, no doubt exhausted posts from the Flaherty Seminar, which the cinetrix will be rockin' on someone else's dime.

The HOMER Project

OK, so this is seriously cool. The HOMER Project examines the history of moviegoing, exhibition, and reception, and members of the international consortium of cinema scholars that started it are working on several intriguing projects in the Netherlands; Athens; London; Portsmouth, England; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Williamsburg, Virginia.

Want to know the fifth most popular film in Athens in 1947? Or browse a list of pre-WWI film businesses in London? Dying to find out what colonial re-enactors watched after work in 1974? It's all there, or will be. These are all ongoing projects, so if you have anything to add to this cinematic equivalent of the human genome project, speak up.

Unlucky number 13

This week, Hizzoner Ed Koch says count him out of Clooney's latest caper.

Ocean's Thirteen
I did not see the original Ocean's Eleven film starring Frank Sinatra nor did I see Ocean's Eleven or Ocean's Twelve, featuring George Clooney. I have a hunch, however, that while they were probably somewhat amusing, they had little impact on the viewer, which is how I felt about this latest movie.

Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) has been swindled out of his share of a newly built Las Vegas casino by Willie Banks (Al Pacino). Reuben's pals, Danny Ocean (George Clooney), Rusty Ryan  (Brad Pitt), and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), decide to right that wrong before the casino opens. Clooney, Pitt and Damon all perform their roles well. I especially enjoyed watching Pacino display the nuances of his villain character, and Andy Garcia does a good job portraying his rogue character, Terry Benedict. An intimate scene takes place between Ellen Barkin, who plays the role of Abigail Sponder, and Matt Damon, he much younger than she.

While the Mission Impossible films carried little weight, they contained an element of surprise, and the Bond films had a lot of humor, often sardonic, sophisticated and sexual. Ocean's Thirteen is an elaborately produced caper story with little excitement and little humor. I saw it because I had to fulfill my obligation as a critic and submit a review. If you miss this flick, you won't be missing anything of consequence.

HS said: "The picture is a lot of famous guys fooling around. It was number one in its opening week because people like the familiar. The stars play minor characters as well as major roles, which is a funny touch.  It's part action film, part Vegas puffery with ethnic stereotypes. Ocean's Thirteen, a self parody, is nothing like Channel 13. If you envy George Clooney, with buds like Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, this flick's for you.

Koch also learns about the birds, bees, and BJs, while HS checks out Rogen's ass.

Knocked Up
When I saw this film, the audience consisted mostly of 20 and 30-year-olds who were in stitches and obviously enjoyed it. I did not find it particularly amusing.

The plot revolves around Alison (Katherine Heigl) and Ben (Seth Rogen). Alison, a true beauty who has just received a job promotion, goes to a club where she meets heavy-set Ben (Seth Rogen) whose personality shifts between "Marty" of television fame and a street-smart guy. She spends the night with him at a cottage near the home of her sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann), where Alison is living.  She soon learns that she is pregnant.

When Alison and Ben meet again, they discuss their first date. She asks him what he thought their second dated would entail. He replies he thought it would include a b.j. I had never heard oral sex referred to by using letters of the alphabet. Shows how much I know.

Knocked Up, written and directed by Judd Apatow who also wrote and directed The 40-Year-Old Virgin, is mostly crude and vulgar. About 40 percent of the picture, which includes true to life discourse, emotions and affections, is well done. As I am an octogenarian, most of the jokes went over my head, and I seldom found the film to be funny. Let me make it clear that in my judgment, I am not a prude. I enjoy movies that are sex driven and funny, but I respond to good taste which, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.

Fairness requires that I give this film a plus rating. It is obviously targeted for a particular audience who, when I saw it, clearly enjoyed it. The lines to get in are long as they were went I went to see Borat. I didn't enjoy that film and gave it a minus rating. It too was a hit with its targeted audience, so I decided not to make the same mistake again.

HS said: "The movie appeals to young people by musical and pop-culture references. There is a lot of what used to be called obscenity but is now conversation. The plot is predictable and the sex simulated. The only nudity is Seth Rogen's butt which is ample."

Jazzin' for Gene

The cinetrix stumbled across this beguiling mention on the front page of the Gene Siskel Film Center at the Art Institute of Chicago and, well, she wants to know more.

Fall 2007/Spring 2008
The Great Transition: World Cinema of the 1950s and 1960s
Lectures by Jonathan Rosenbaum

And, see, there's even a wee photo of Mercedes McCambridge and Sterling Hayden from Johnny Guitar. Awesome, but how does it all fit together? If anyone has a press release or, better still, a list of films being screened, send 'em along. The cinetrix is planning a world cinema [in American contexts] class for the kiddies this fall, and she wants to make sure they get something almost as fancy as the Chicago art students do.

Shiver me timbers

[Image ganked from here. Mad love and much respect to this anonymous theater.]

The cinetrix knows it's been ages. Please launch whyihavenotblogged.exe to run the usual excuses.

Misery loves company

The cinetrix missed Dan Klores' doc Crazy Love at Full Frame earlier this spring, and the screener she picked up there went mysteriously MIA. Did housekeeping help itself to the film? Who knows. Given the fucked-up relationship at its center, the cinetrix was not all that sorry to see it go.

However, an email from the Angelika announcing that Klores would be conducting a Q&A today after the film screened reminded me of something. See, the announcement not only summarizes the sordid story of Bert and Linda Puglach's relationship, it rustles up a few plaudits from the press:

"I COULDN'T STOP WATCHING. A shockingly fierce and funny spell-binder that leaves your head spinning. ELECTRIFYING!" - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"AN AMAZING FILM. For those of you who don't know the story, I'll let
director Klores spring his jack-in-the-boxes - and let your jaw drop as
low as mine did." - David Edelstein, New York

"A JAW-DROPPING TRUE STORY." - Harlan Jacobsen, USA Today

"I WAS HOOKED. SPECTACULAR." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

Notable for its absence is the New York Times review by Manohla Dargis, which probably proved a tougher nut to crack when it came to extracting a favorable pullquote. But I have to say it's one of the better reviews I've read in quite a while because it acknowledges her struggle with the film. True, she relies on some of her acclimatized Valley vocabulary to express her reactions--"somewhat sickening,  mildly gonzo" and "Ew, ew, ew." come to mind--but it's honest.

Here's a longish excerpt, but you should really read the whole thing:

...An opening quotation from Jacques Lacan makes you think you’re headed for deep waters, when all that’s in store is a frolic in the shallows. The overall vibe is morbidly entertaining, though something of a downer, partly because it’s unclear if Mr. and Mrs. Pugach know that they are such sick puppies, partly because it’s unclear if Mr. Klores cares that they are.

In some respects “Crazy Love” belongs to that class of documentaries that might be called the family freak show. (Think of “Capturing the Friedmans.”) But it also belongs to the more familiar category of the misery documentary, those nonfiction works that poke into the ghastliness of other people’s lives like a finger rummaging inside a wound. Misery documentaries exist because sometimes other people’s pain is deemed newsworthy and because sometimes the people who make them sincerely want to inspire change. Mostly, though, they exist because watching other people suffer has always been a favorite human pastime. In ancient Rome spectators flocked to the Colosseum to watch the bloodletting; now we watch it on screen.

That’s fine, I guess, and “Crazy Love” is certainly perfectly fine. But it also raises more questions than it answers, including the moral responsibility a documentary filmmaker assumes when his subjects seem so eager to exploit themselves.