"I Am So Proud of You"

"I Am So Proud of You" (short), 2008. A man with unspecified neurological problems, chapter two.

Written by, directed by & starring Don Hertzfeldt.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 4/4 (Great). It would have been nice to have an actor do the narration, but he does better on this one than the other two chapters.
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites, 4/4). The comedy of the Beautiful Day trilogy, and Hertzfeldt's masterpiece. I can't think of anything else that combines hilarity and beauty like this, keeping both of them going at the same time. The sequence in which we learn Bill's family history is probably the best thing from any film I've ever seen.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.6/4 3.7/4 (Great)

(update of a previous post - original is here)

Best of My 2012

The best titles in each of my ratings categories, of everything I saw for the first time since last year's year-end list:

Concept
1. The Wiz, 1978
2. The War of the Worlds, 1953
3. Fantastic Planet, 1973

Story
1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, 2007
2. Looper, 2012
3. A Separation, 2011

Characters
1. Beginners, 2011
2. Moonrise Kingdom, 2012
3. Breaking Bad (tv series), 2008

Dialog
1. The Guard, 2011
2. Animal Crackers, 1930
3. Moonrise Kingdom, 2012

Pacing
1. Swing Time, 1936
2. The Avengers, 2012
3. The Lady Eve, 1941

Cinematography
1. Planet Earth (tv series), 2006
2. Skyfall, 2012
3. Days of Heaven, 1978

Special Effects/Design
1. Prometheus, 2012
2. Brave, 2012
3. Band of Brothers (tv series), 2001

Acting
1. Shame, 2011
2. A Woman Under the Influence, 1974
3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 2011

Music
1. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 2001
2. Dr. No, 1962
3. Midnight in Paris, 2011

Subjective Rating
1. Moonrise Kingdom, 2012 (9/10)
2. The Avengers, 2012 (9/10)
3. Doctor Who (tv series), 2011-2012 (9/10)
4. Swing Time, 1936 (8/10)
5. Game of Thrones (tv series), 2011 (8/10)

Objective Rating
1. Moonrise Kingdom, 2012 (3.7/4)
2. Looper, 2012 (3.5/4)
3. Warrior, 2011 (3.4/4)
4. The Guard, 2011 (3.4/4)
5. Skyfall, 2012 (3.4/4)

"It's Such a Beautiful Day"

"It's Such a Beautiful Day" (short), 2011. A man with unspecified neurological problems, chapter three.

Written by, directed by & starring Don Hertzfeldt.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent). It's the first Don Hertzfeldt film where I found myself checking the time.
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). The voice work continues to be mediocre, but this time the animation doesn't make up for it - the character is too out of it to warrant any acting.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). There's hardly any humor. There's none of the amazing expressiveness to the animation that I loved so much in the previous installment. Mostly the focus is on special effects and novel visuals. It's a beautiful, and beautifully sad, film, but it's more pretentious than fun.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.9/4 (Good)

The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season One

The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season One, 1961-1962. A goofy husband/father writes for a TV show.

Created by Carl Reiner. Directed by John Rich (23 episodes), Sheldon Leonard (3), Robert Butler (2) & James Komack (2). Written by Reiner (19 episodes), David Adler (3), Walter Kempley (2), Norm Liebmann (2), Ed Haas (2), Jack Raymond (1), Arnold Peyser (1), Lois Peyser (1), Leo Solomon (1), Ben Gershman (1) & John Whedon (1). Starring Dick Van Dyke.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). Great performances; okay acting.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Hilarious, but too sitcom-y. I guess that's unavoidable with an early 60's sitcom. I just wish this cast was in a variety show instead. The best parts are when they stop the plot for a few minutes and just put on an act of some sort.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

"Orange Blossoms for Violet"

"Orange Blossoms for Violet" (short), 1952. A monkey melodrama.

Unknown director. Written by Friz Freleng & Chuck Jones. Starring Mel Blanc.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 0/4 (Terrible)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad). Mel Blanc couldn't even be troubled to give the different characters unique voices.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible, 0/4). The Looney Tunes staff tortures animals for a laugh. They don't even have them do or say anything funny; just their being on screen is supposed to be enough, I guess.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.1/4 (Bad)

Doctor Who #107: Nightmare of Eden

Doctor Who: "Nightmare of Eden," 1979 (the fourth story of six from season seventeen). A passenger spaceship carrying a drug smuggler materializes on top of another ship.

Created by Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber & Donald Wilson. Directed by Alan Bromly & Graham Williams. Written by Bob Baker. Starring Tom Baker & Lalla Ward.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 1/4 (Bad)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad). Mediocre design, terrible effects.
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Occasional great dialog and some clever ideas keep it watchable. The script is a mess, but it's a silly mess that might have made for a fun serial. It's execution, though, is bad at best.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.8/4 (Eh)

Game of Thrones: Season One

From my Best TV Shows We've Never Seen marathon - part 4 of 5.



Game of Thrones: Season One, 2011. Various factions plot to gain political control over a fantasy world.

Created by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss, based on books by George R. R. Martin. Directed by Brian Kirk (3 episodes), Daniel Minahan (3), Tim Van Patten (2) & Alan Taylor (2). Written by Benioff (8 episodes), Weiss (8), Bryan Cogman (1), Jane Espenson (1) & Martin (1). Starring Sean Bean.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good). It could have been an hour or two shorter without losing anything. That didn't bother me while I was watching it (except when that damn raven dream kept repeating), but I expect it would seriously mar the show's rewatchability.
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good). Crazy good for a TV show.
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). I'm reluctantly giving it an 8 instead of a 9. I loved watching it, but there are a few major problems. Some key plot points are unexplained. Martin's obsession with incest is off-putting. Some of the villains are senselessly evil just for the sake of being villains (huge pet peeve of mine). Oddly, the biggest problem is that there is a ridiculous amount of gratuitous sex and nudity, to the point where it becomes funny. The general rule seems to be that if there's no good reason for characters to not be having sex during their scene, then what are their clothes still on for goddamnit? HBO viewers demand titties! Fantasy is always treading a fine line between immersing and silly, so a show like this that takes itself Very Seriously couldn't do much worse than give you a reason to laugh at it.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.8/4 (Good)

"Haunted Spooks"

"Haunted Spooks" (short), 1920. A girl must marry someone and live in a house in order to inherit it.

Directed by Alfred J. Goulding & Hal Roach. Written by H.M. Walker. Starring Harold Lloyd & Mildred Davis.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Mildred Davis is adorable in this. At one point she almost steals a scene just by laughing at Harold.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Most of the film is good. Some of Lloyd's funniest bits are in it, and it doesn't have any down time. But once they finally get around to the haunted spooks part (which is just at the end), it turns racist; they put the gags on hold for some minstrel crap.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

"Beep, Beep"

"Beep, Beep" (short), 1952. Coyote tries to catch Roadrunner.

Directed by Chuck Jones. Written by Michael Maltese.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). Roadrunner cartoons might be recycled, repetitive, and effectively made on an assembly line, but that doesn't matter much because in the end they work. Jones and Maltese know how to pull off gags brilliantly, and this format lets them just do that with nothing else to get in the way.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.9/4 (Good)

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music, 1965. A governess brings music and joy back into a motherless home; also, Nazis.

Directed by Robert Wise. Written by Ernest Lehman, based on a play by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse. Starring Julie Andrews.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good). The songs are great, but they aren't great film music. They rarely do anything to advance the story, there's too many of them, and they go on for too long (often with nothing happening on screen while they're sung).
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It has it's moments - nowhere near enough of them to warrant a three-hour movie, but they're in there.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.1/4 (Okay)

Downton Abbey: Series One

Downton Abbey: Series One, 2010. The goings-on in a large English household in the 1910s.

Created by Julian Fellowes. Directed by Brian Percival (3 episodes), Ben Bolt (2) & Brian Kelly (2). Written by Fellowes, with Shelagh Stephenson (1 episode) & Tina Pepler (1). Starring Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Rob James-Collier & Dan Stevens.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent). Spiteful people backstabbing each other is not my idea of entertaining drama.
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent). And occasionally finding out secrets about characters is not my idea of development.
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It's well done for what it is. I just don't see the appeal of this sort of thing. It probably doesn't help that it portrays an oppressive world as something good and noble. At one point the family patriarch makes a little speech about being merely a custodian of his estate, implying that he's burdened with responsibility and not, contrary to all evidence, obscenely privileged. And of course he's fair and protective of his underlings, and they're all much happier in servitude than they would be otherwise. It's pretty disgusting. But then, I'm a straight male, so no one expects me to enjoy this kind of show. My wife liked it.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.5/4 (Okay)

"Gift Wrapped"

"Gift Wrapped" (short), 1952. Sylvester vs. Tweety on Christmas morning.

Directed by Friz Freleng. Written by Warren Foster. Starring Mel Blanc.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). More typical Sylvester and Tweety. Not too bad. Doesn't do anything to justify its existence (except for that one shot of Sylvester above, which perfectly captures my feelings toward Tweety Bird).
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile, 2007. A girl helps her friend get an illegal abortion in Communist Romania.

Written & directed by Cristian Mungiu. Starring Anamaria Marinca.

Concept: 0/4 (Terrible). It has an amazing score of 97 on metacritic.com, so into the Netflix queue it went. If I had bothered to read a synopsis, then the fact that it's supposed to be one of the best movies ever made would probably have been insufficient enticement to watch it. If only I had.
Story: 4/4 (Great)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent). Deliberately very slow. If it had been a movie that wasn't 100% misery, it might have been great, interesting pacing. As it is, it's excruciating.
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good). Shakey cam, but used appropriately.
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent). No music, with a lot of uncomfortable silences. It would have been a very different movie if it had music, probably less harrowing, and I would be A-Okay with that. And then there's the closing credits, with a terrible pop song.
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible, 0/4). Next time I'm tempted to call a film "joyless," I will have to think twice; my perspective on how relentlessly miserable a film can be has been changed. It's the kind of movie that's perfectly executed, couldn't be more effective, and I wish it wasn't - because what Mungiu is evoking is, to say the least, not something I want to experience. I literally had to scream after watching it. I'm still recovering.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

"Tweet Tweet Tweety"

"Tweet Tweet Tweety" (short), 1951. Sylvester vs. Tweety in a national park.

Directed by Friz Freleng. Written by Warren Foster. Starring Mel Blanc.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). Wonderful backgrounds.
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great). Stalling's score is great enough to compensate for Tweety's singing.
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). I just... I just do not understand why they kept making Tweety cartoons. The more I watch, the more I hate them.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (tv special), 2002. The Muppets are broke, and Kermit wishes he'd never been born.

Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher. Written by Tom Martin & Jim Lewis. Starring Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta & Eric Jacobson.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Inconsistent. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's cringe-inducingly bad. The World In Which Kermit Was Never Born sequence is great enough to keep me liking the movie and think of it as part of the Muppets Tonight/Muppets from Space era, rather than the disastrous Disney TV Movie era.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

Destiny

Destiny, 1921. A woman challenges Death for the life of her fiancé.

Directed by Fritz Lang. Written by Lang & Thea von Harbou. Starring Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen & Bernhard Goetzke.

Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). It's divided into five segments, each with a distinct tone. The first three are pretty good - first a folktale-ish horror story, followed by a couple adventure-packed melodramas. Then it goes suddenly and horrendously racist. After that, returning to the original story for its conclusion, I'd completely lost interest in the movie. Sadly, one part bad movie plus four parts good movie adds up to one bad movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

The Wire: Season One

From my Best TV Shows We've Never Seen marathon - part 3 of 5.



The Wire: Season One, 2002. A backward police department tries to catch a drug kingpin.

Created by David Simon. Directed by Clark Johnson (3 episodes), Clement Virgo (2), Peter Medak (1), Ed Bianchi (1), Joe Chappelle (1), Gloria Muzio (1), Milčo Mančevski (1), Brad Anderson (1), Steve Shill (1) & Tim Van Patten (1). Written by David Simon (8 episodes), Ed Burns (2), Rafael Alvarez (1), David H. Melnick (1), Shamit Choksey (1), Joy Lusco (1) & George Pelecanos (1); story by Simon & Burns. Starring Dominic West.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 4/4 (Great). There are about a dozen main characters, and every one of them has a distinct voice and a well-developed arc. I don't sympathize with any of them (and don't even particularly enjoy watching most of them), but they are interesting and seem completely real.
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Solidly written and engaging. Normally I couldn't care less about drug dealers or corrupt cops, but this show's got me curious to see what happens next.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.0/4 (Good)

"A Bear for Punishment"

"A Bear for Punishment" (short), 1951. The three bears celebrate Father's Day.

Directed by Chuck Jones. Written by Michael Maltese. Starring Bea Benaderet, Billy Bletcher & Stan Freberg.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Most of the gags don't make me laugh. It has its moments, though; Ma Bear is amusing, and there's some great animation here and there.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.6/4 (Good)

"From Hand to Mouth"

"From Hand to Mouth" (short), 1919. A tramp saves an heiress.

Directed by Alfred J. Goulding & Hal Roach. Written by Harold Lloyd & H.M. Walker. Starring Harold Lloyd & Mildred Davis.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It steps into Charlie Chaplin territory more than a little, and of course Lloyd is no Chaplin. It's pretty funny, though.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

(update of a previous post - original is here)