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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Art of the Hustle

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I've seen Jonathan Parker's (Untitled), which shows tomorrow afternoon (1.9) and early Saturday evening (1.10) at the Palm Springs Int'l Film Festival. It's an underplayed, bone-dry New York relationship comedy with a point to make about the art scene there. Parker and cowriter Catherine DiNapoli are basically saying it's a kind of cesspool of pretension and phoniness, and that the people who regularly buy and/or support much of what passes for modern art are either deluded or phonies or both, or are simply being flim-flammed.

Marley Shelton, Adam Goldberg in (Untitled).

So it's anything but a stupid slapstick comedy, and because of that I was more or less favorably disposed. It's vaguely Woody Allen-esque but without the schtick. I didn't laugh out loud all that much; I mostly smirked and occasionally chortled, but there's nothing wrong with that. And I enjoyed staring at Marley Shelton (Grindhouse), whom I hadn't paid very much attention to before. She believably plays a sharp Chelsea art-gallery dealer, which is to say I bought her projections of cunning, shrewdness and intelligence, however natural or manufactured. Call this a modest breakthrough performance.

The plot is about how Shelton comes to dump a boyfriend (Eion Bailey) whose mediocre paintings are very popular with her corporate clients, and instead begins to see his doleful and bearded brother (Adam Goldberg), a very pretentious anti-musical pianist whose performances are entirely about defying conventional taste, to put it very mildly. Goldberg's performance is fine -- subdued comedy is his forte -- but his beard and hair are so bushy you can barely see his face. I know, I know...an anti-musical pianist who kicks buckets and whatnot is precisely the sort of guy who would have too-much head hair.

I don't know what else to say except that (Untitled) could have used as few more jokes. And a better title. Svetlana Cvetko's widescreen cinematography is well-framed and, I'm sure, professionally lit and captured. (The print I happened to see a while back was projected with the wrong digital calibration and therefore looked like a murky VHS.) But it's an intelligent sit, this film. I felt pleased and settled when the lights came up. That's not a bad thing. Okay, a good thing.

Vinnie Jones plays a wackjob sculptor with his usual verve turned down a couple of notches.

Knight Backlash Begins<< previous | next >>Clint vs. Brides

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 8, 2009 at 6:50 PM

comment #1

nemo says ...

What on earth is going on in that picture?

They look like they're sharing a Marcello Mastroianni meets Jane Fonda 1960s moment on a Swinging London Carnaby Street set for the final scene of 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Posted by nemo at January 8, 2009 9:22 PM

comment #2

nemo says ...

". . . a kind of cesspool of pretension and phoniness, and that the people who regularly buy and/or support much of what passes for modern art are either deluded or phonies or both, or are just being flim-flammed."

That's the world where Julian Schnabel got his start, before he moved on to better things.

Posted by nemo at January 8, 2009 9:29 PM

comment #3

MilkMan says ...

I don't like Adam Goldberg. He tries to act like he's smart. But he's not. He spends too much time worried about what his hair looks like and what kind of retro fashions are on the cutting edge. He acts like a hair stylist. If they ever do a remake of Shampoo they should cast him as Warren Beatty.

He's no Woody Allen. More like that schmuck Tony Roberts. What a prick. That's who Adam Goldberg is.

Watching him beg for his life in Private Ryan made me uncomfortable. Because that's how I would've died, saying wait, wait, please don't, stop.

Have any of you ever read Julian Jaynes' The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-Cameral Mind. And if someone has, can they please explain it to me in plain, simple, easy-to-follow language that I can understand?

Posted by MilkMan at January 8, 2009 9:30 PM

comment #4

seduisant says ...

John Updike said, "Julian Jaynes speculates that until late in the twentieth millennium B.C., men had no consciousness but were automatically obeying the voices of the gods."

OK.

Jaynes has his own society of followers with conferences, self-study courses, etc. Check out http://www.julianjaynes.org/ at your peril.

And good luck with this crazy motherfucker.

Posted by seduisant at January 8, 2009 10:13 PM

comment #5

D.Z. says ...

Speaking of hustling, I haven't seen this kind of delusional optimistic forecasting for a venture since the neo-cons said Iraq would be a cake-walk.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117998214.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Guess they haven't been paying attention to the economic situation. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090108/ts_nm/us_usa_retailsales_10

Posted by D.Z. at January 8, 2009 10:39 PM

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

MilkMan that was amusing as usual but atypically off-point. Adam Goldberg is absolutely necessary and occasionally awesome. And he's not feigning his intelligence in the slightest. You should probably check out THE HEBREW HAMMER, of all things.

Posted by BurmaShave at January 9, 2009 2:10 AM

comment #7

Floyd Thursby says ...

Though I hate him elsewhere, I was surprised to like Goldberg in 2 DAYS IN PARIS, though his tattoos are more annoying than his hair.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at January 9, 2009 6:12 AM

comment #8

DavidF says ...

I'm with Burmashave - to the point I'd even consider (but not actually watch) one of the Friends episodes Goldberg guest-starred in.

I agree with Milkman, however, about his death in Saving Private Ryan. I think it's the hardest, most "real" screen death I've ever seen and it never gets easier to watch - AND it's one of those things Spielberg apparently came up with on set.

Posted by DavidF at January 9, 2009 7:17 AM

comment #9

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

"I don't like Adam Goldberg. He tries to act like he's smart. But he's not. He spends too much time worried about what his hair looks like and what kind of retro fashions are on the cutting edge. He acts like a hair stylist. If they ever do a remake of Shampoo they should cast him as Warren Beatty."

haha

Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk at January 9, 2009 8:35 AM

comment #10

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

this movie doesn't sound too bad, I'd definitely go see it if I can.

Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk at January 9, 2009 8:35 AM

comment #11

George Prager says ...

MilkMan's head movies are bothering him.

Posted by George Prager at January 9, 2009 9:47 AM

comment #12

nemo says ...

It's amazing how hot she looks in those glasses.

Posted by nemo at January 9, 2009 10:59 AM

comment #13

Mr Bohemian says ...

The still looks boring,
anyone heard anything about Adopt A Sailor
or Larry Blamire's new film Dark and Stormy Night. they look enjoyable and playing the Palm Spring

Posted by Mr Bohemian at January 9, 2009 11:03 AM

comment #14

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

No doubt, Nemo

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at January 9, 2009 1:11 PM

comment #15

actionman says ...

Goldberg was fantastic in 2 Days in Paris

Posted by actionman at January 15, 2009 12:20 PM

comment #16

YRG says ...

I like Adam Goldberg and wish he was in more films. I've liked him since he starred in that short run drama Relativity back in the 90s. But I still laughed at Milkman's post.

Posted by YRG at January 15, 2009 12:40 PM