Friends & Crocodiles

I saw this tonight on BBC Prime, in an efficiency apartment close to the heart of Vienna, Austria. It was, as my wife said, a little strange film.

It's a thought-provoking film, full of the kind of inter-personal struggle and self reflection that I used to despise in film. This one wasn't awful; it just doesn't really go anywhere far enough to provide satisfaction.

Friends & Crocodiles
2005, 109 minutes, directed by Stephen Poliakoff

City of Ember

And this is why I go to festivals. Per the director Gil Kenan, this was the "premiere [of the] finished film for the first time in front of a live audience." What a pleasure to attend.

Sure, there are some spots where I think the plot could be tightened, but it's a beautiful telling of a great story. It's a fine ending to another film festival.

City of Ember
2008, directed by Gil Kenan

Rock N Rolla

OMG it's complicated. It takes the first 20 minutes just to introduce all the characters and their motivations. Oh, wait - yeah, it's a Guy Ritchie British gangster film. Of course.

It's really no different than Snatch. But, if you liked Snatch - and I did - you'll probably get a kick out of this one too. I did.

Rock N Rolla
2008, 114 minutes, directed by Guy Ritchie

Role Models

This was officially the "first screening of the final print of the film", aka the world premiere. Director David Wain and star Paul Rudd attended. As a "stupid" adult comedy, I don't tend to expect much. Sure, I didn't so much like Zack and Miri, but audience laughter can go a long way towards correcting the deficiencies typical of the genre.

For this one the biggest problems were the holes in the plot. Weird as that sounds for an adult comedy built on stupid laughs and double entendres, it just wasn't sufficiently realistic for its own made-up world. Movie-long plot drivers get summed up in single sentences, or just get dropped entirely for the sake of the central theme.

But it was full of consistent laughs that played well with a movie-loving audience. If you want to see a comedic love story featuring Elizabeth Banks this fall, certainly pick this one over brand Z.

Role Models
2008, directed by David Wain

Alien Raiders

As my last non-"secret" screening of the festival, this acts as my final choice from the standard lineup. I intended to see it at a midnight screening earlier in the week, which, as it turns out, was the world premiere. The director said, "Warner Bros. calls it a 'special advanced screening', but as far as I'm concerned it's the premiere."

Aliens invading Earth. Who's been taken over and needs execution, and who's an innocent to set free? It takes a special kind to make that call, and they have set their sights on a grocery store in small-town Ohio. Alas, it was sooo obvious from the start how things would all turn out, but the story was still fun to follow. This is well worth a rental.

Alien Raiders
2008, 85 minutes, directed by Ben Rock

Appaloosa

Ok. Well I was all set with a rant about how they announced a new secret screening last night at 11:00, ten minutes after I'd left for the day, then they put the rest of the tickets up for sale at 11:00 Wednesday morning (instead of 90 minutes before the first show time), so that when I arrived at noon Wednesday to get my Thursday tickets, they were all sold out, then how I didn't want to see stupid Burrowers anyway and I'd rather go give me dinner money to Maudie's again.

Then my optimism prevailed and I stood, in the lobby, while the secret screening sat, Burrowers sat, the other two films sat, and I was left as the last man standing, literally. When Ed Asner failed to show, I was offered one of the reserve seats and got to see this preview screening of Appaloosa.

So, I retract all those bad things. It worked out.

One of the ways I define "adventure" is a film that seems to have run through a solid story arc, and then it picks up and keeps going in a new direction, often (but not always) in a new locale. This western fits the bill, with a well-told, complex story, much longer than expected. If you yearn for the days of western film, and still enjoy the way Hollywood makes them now, this is well worth admission.

Appaloosa
2008, 114 minutes, directed by Ed Harris

Astrópía

This is - hands down - the best genre film for gamers of the 2000s. They hit all the right points. Drag your buddies out of WoW, take those dice out of their hands, and get them to a screening.

"At least this one doesn't start in a bar."

Astrópía
2007, directed by Gunnar B. Gudmundsson