[Wed, 31.May.06]
:. That Girl: Season One
It could be legitimately argued that Ann Marie was a highly manipulative female; not because she had a thing for male emasculation, but because anyone who came under the spell of her sparkling smile or got in the way of her unstoppable joie de vivre necessarily became road kill.
[Tues, 30.May.06]
:. PJ Harvey on Tour: Please Leave Quietly
This tour documentary is able to do what most artists can only dream about: it re-animates PJ Harvey's back catalogue, re-invents her sound palette, and flaunts (in the most positive way) her skill and versatility not only as a singer, musician, and visual artist, but also as a businesswoman.
[Fri, 26.May.06]
:. Unfinished Business: The Japanese-American Internment Cases
If it isn't a documentary masterpiece, the film is still an impressive work, valuable for its documentation of three American heroes and its insistence that the tragic civil-liberties violations of the Japanese-American internment not be forgotten.
:. Teddy Pendergrass: Teddy! Live in '79
Pendergrass in concert is also Pendergrass at his best, because he's a performer who simply thrives on audience interaction.
[Thur, 25.May.06]
:. American Masters - Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea
The documentary argues that Hemingway tried to answer Ezra Pound's call to "make it new". His version of new was compressed: his language -- so precise, so alienated -- formed infamously short, tough sentences.
[Wed, 24.May.06]
:. Image Before My Eyes: A History of Jewish Life in Poland Before the Holocaust
The film distills its photos, films, recordings, and narratives into a profoundly potent and heartrending vision of lost European Jewry.
[Tues, 23.May.06]
:. The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete Third Season
It might be properly said that Newhart -- in his quiet, insecure manner -- represents something of a shrugging mode of subversion.
[Mon, 22.May.06]
:. Delicatessen
There is always something to look at in this film, even in the unsavory parts.
[Fri, 19.May.06]
:. Over There: The Complete Series
By series' end, Smoke ("Sticky" Jones) comes to understand himself as a function of TV, revealing the complex interrelatedness of media and war, stateside and abroad.
[Thur, 18.May.06]
:. The Family Stone
In trying to balance the competing forces of farce and pathos, the film is at times funny and moving, though there are so many characters and subplots that some get lost in the shuffle.
[Wed, 17.May.06]
:. Kenny Rogers: Legend of the Gambler
The movies echo the original tune, an odd combination of existential weariness and jaunty bravado, via buddy-movie heroics and a surprisingly hard-edged family melodrama.
[Tues, 16.May.06]
:. Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist: Season One
Dr. Katz relies on the familiar conceit that comedy is therapy, for performers and for us.
[Mon, 15.May.06]
:. Danger Mouse: The Complete Seasons 5 & 6
Lest audiences should think that American Idol's Simon Cowell is the apotheosis of British wit, allow me to submit for your consideration the name of Danger Mouse.
[Fri, 12.May.06]
:. Wolf Creek: Widescreen Unrated Edition
Greg McLean poses a basic question: "What would it be like to be struck in this incredibly isolated place with the most evil character you could possibly imagine, who was also distinctly Australian?"
[Thur, 11.May.06]
:. Watermarks
Stanton appears to have come to terms with at least some of her bad feelings. "As I was getting old," she says, "I decided that I did not want to die with so much hatred in me."
[Wed, 10.May.06]
:. A-Trak, Sunglasses Is a Must
While the feature can drag at times, it's worth watching for some of the great footage that A-Trak captures and provides.
[Tues, 9.May.06]
:. Casanova
This would be the cleaned-up, wearisome, supposedly romantic version of the notorious Casanova.
[Mon, 8.May.06]
:. The Warrior
The warrior tries to lose himself in the Himalayas, where, director Asif Kapadia says, they used fans to blow sand, which clogged machinery and nostrils: "I will not be doing a sandstorm shoot again in a hurry, I tell you."
[Fri, 5.May.06]
:. Lie With Me
Like the novella by Tamara Faith Berger on which it's based, Lie With Me blurs the boundaries between pornography and art.
[Thur, 4.May.06]
:. The Net
I only feel comfortable reiterating Kaczynski's arguments by framing him as the result of an experiment gone wrong in the state-sanctioned exercise of force.
[Wed, 3.May.06]
:. R-Point
All battlefields are haunted, alive with the spirits of those who have fallen in the name of war. It's too bad that this Korean horror film set during Vietnam decided to rely on clichéd creeps to fuel its frights.
[Tues, 2.May.06]
:. Shopgirl
Director Anand Tucker insists his film is not about the glitzy L.A. It is, instead, about an L.A. populated with "ordinary people just like you and me, getting on with their lives."
[Mon, 1.May.06]
:. Destination America: The People and Cultures That Created a Nation
The series emphasizes how admirable immigration policies have made the U.S. prosperous and intellectually robust. Unfortunately, this sometimes has the effect of glossing over history's complications.
:. Last Holiday
"So much of the movie," says director Wayne Wang of his Last Holiday, "is about giving up your fears and trying to live your life."
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