The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life

River Road Entertainment etc.

May 27, 2011

Drama

DVD

D

Both depressing and ominous, but I liked the house.  Terrence Malick directed, in between The New World and Song to Song.

Taps (1981)

Taps (1981)

20th Century Fox

December 25, 1981

Drama?
DVD
D

Dull but also a bit creepy.  This is based on Devery Freeman's novel Father Sky and directed by Harold Becker.

Racing with the Moon

Racing with the Moon

Paramount

March 23, 1984

Historical Drama, Romance

DVD
C-

I liked the music, scenery, and of course Carol Kane, but I didn't care about the main story or characters.  Steve Kloves wrote and Richard Benjamin directed.

Milk

Milk

Focus Features etc.

November 26, 2008

Historical Drama

DVD

B-

I was really moved by this movie when I saw it in the theater, but rewatching it I felt more distant, I think partly because a lot of the supporting characters are barely sketched in.  Still, Penn remains solid as the title character.  Gus Van Sant directed, and I've tagged some of the real people who appear in archival footage.

The Interpreter

The Interpreter

Working Title Films etc.

April 4, 2005

Crime Drama

DVD
D

Boring, violent, and somewhat racist, but it was a bit nice to see the U.N. interior.  Sydney Pollack directed.

The Game

The Game 

PolyGram

September 12, 1997

Drama

DVD
C

A rich man (Douglas) who's haunted by the past gets a gift card from his brother (Penn, who looks his sixteen years younger than Douglas, whose character seems to be maybe half that amount older).  David Fincher directed a couple years before Fight Club.

The Crossing Guard

The Crossing Guard
Miramax
November 16, 1995
Crime Drama
DVD
D+

Unsurprisingly, Nicholson is my least favorite aspect of this movie.  Sean Penn wrote and directed.

Colors

Colors
Orion
April 29, 1988
Crime Drama
DVD
D+

My main interest here was the glimpses of '80s Los Angeles, although it was nice to hear the title track and get the MST3K joke a little better.  Dennis Hopper directed.

Casualties of War

Casualties of War
Columbia
August 18, 1989
War Drama
DVD
D-

The Vietnam War, directed by De Palma, based on the book by David Rabe, with Fox as the only decent person among the soldiers.

Being John Malkovich

Being John Malkovich
Propaganda Films
December 3, 1999
Fantasy, Dramedy, Romance
DVD
B

Let me tell you a little story that has nothing to do with your viewing experience but a lot to do with mine.  It was almost twenty years ago, and less than a year after this movie came out.  I was watching it with my then-boyfriend, possibly on DVD but I think on VHS.  We were attracted to each other without having much in common, which we were fully aware of.  We were still in the giddy early, hormonal stage and we started making out during the scene when Maxine (Catherine Keener) is mounting Malkovich while Lotte (Cameron Diaz) is in his mind.  We kept making out until shocked out of it by the scene where Lotte's husband, Craig (John Cusack), forces her at gunpoint to make a call to Maxine.

Watching the movie now wasn't that much of an emotional whiplash, but it remains a twisted, disturbing and yet somehow fun and funny ride.  It's one of those rare movies where I don't like any of the characters and yet I want to see what happens to them, and of course the situation is fascinating and it's cool to see it play out in all its ramifications.  At one point, Craig wonders what will happen to John M. if he goes into the portal, and Maxine says, "Let's find out," like she's just another viewer.  (Interestingly, she's the one significant character who doesn't try to "be" John Malkovich, although she does control him through sex and love.)

Charlie Kaufman wrote the script and Spike Jonze directed, and I assume the quirkiness comes from both.  I want to particularly single out my two favorite parts, one of which is a play on the title and the concept, and the other of which seems to have little to do with the main part of the movie but is actually a capsule of it.  What the viewers (but maybe not Maxine or Craig) find out is that Malkovich enters an alternate world where everyone is Malkovich and speaks only in Malkovich, e.g. "Malkovich? Malkovich!"

When Craig is first hired to work at LesterCorp, he has to watch a training film, which is unlike any training film you've ever seen.  The visuals suggest it was made about 20 years earlier, but then it goes into a "dramatic recreation" of something allegedly from the late 1800s, except that the two characters we now see are dressed as if it's colonial times, more like 250 years ago than 100.  We get the feeling that LesterCorp is keeping down its overhead in more ways than low ceilings.  And then later in the outer movie, the story turns out to be true!  (Well, they probably got colonial costumes cheap in 1979, but still.)

I didn't love that boyfriend and I don't love this movie, then or now, but some things have to be experienced, no matter how "wrong" they are.

I'm omitting all the people, including Dustin Hoffman, that appear in archive footage, but I am including Sean Penn and Octavia Spencer because they make memorable cameos.