Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Jesse: Very popular indy documentary from 2005. Likable, unremarkable. Despite a bird named Mingus: Don't expect explosions! 3/5

Beth: A quaint documentary that will make you appreciate parrots. We should all appreciate parrots.

Oasis

Jesse A Groovy Kind of Love, it's not. A tad too long. Not for the squeamish, impatient, or those not yet weaned from Hollywood and Drew Barrymore. Come to think of it, I for once, might enjoy Drew cast in that. Misfit, misunderstood, tortured. And also touching, believable, and even beautiful. Of a kind the world may be better for. 3.75/5

The Curse of the Wererabbit!

Beth: A fine, fine movie, full of gap-toothed smiles, monsters with a heart, gadgetry, and overall claymation fabulousness. Even Jesse laughed. Wallace and Grommit at their finest!

Jesse: Goofy, cheese-obsessed, animatronic goobers in a veg-aholic caper. Of course Beth likes it.
Enough laughs to make you forget a lite ending. Fo' Real

Junebug

Jesse: Really nice performances, cool use of (den, hobby wall, modern art) imagery in its portrayal of mundane Southern life. These characters exist in all our lives (or are selves) treading along in complicit guilelessness. Points for walking the ever thinning line (in America) between 'normal', efficient lives and self-destructive impulses beneath the surface. With quiet aplomb. Perhaps that's why I was reminded of that classic, Sex, Lies Videotape. 4.2/5

Beth: I was very impressed with the acting in this movie, but the movie itself left me feeling off-kilter. I don't know what it was: the southern, sculpted-wood, praise-the-lord ickiness of it all; the disturbing relationships pristinely portrayed; the "class" implications... The truth is, if a movie gets to me, I think it's done its job. So I'll give it a thumbs up.

The Fast Runner

Jesse: A bit long at two and a half hours--but that's the worst I can say. Inuit seal eaters may turn you off, but these savages retain quite alot o wisdom and pride. And they filmed a darn good movie!
3.7/5

Beth: i spent the first 2/3 of this movie very confused. Someone was murdered, I think, and then there were a bunch of men who all looked vaguely alike in their furry parkas and long hair, but who I was supposed to be able to tell apart. the filming initially seemed so elementary with its up-close shots, like a student film, and that irked me a bit, as if little fingers were poking at me. But eventually I started seeing the film as a tale told from a distinctly non-hollywood point of view. Then I began appreciating the lack of pretense in the camera work. Some women were introduced, and I finally started getting into the story. Two and a half hours later, I was still awake, appreciative of my warm bed and the fact that I don't have to eat seal fat to survive. i truly don't know how these people live in the cold like that. brr.

Common Ground

Beth: This was a good, smart film. I wanted to sleep the whole time, but fought fought fought it because the dialogue was so surprisingly refreshing and witty. Eventually, I gave in to sleep.

Jesse: Argentine film on dvd. Quite good. Wonderful actors playing wonderful characters in a very good, modern tale. Captures well an intelligent and dignified marriage of equanimity and grace. And the pain and loss of aging--there's no shortage of that in films these days, so we'll take it in the best forms please--hold the mayo. Extra points from me for the place, the struggle and life's interventions. 4.2/5

Travellers and Musicians

Beth: I like a film that doesn't let you realize that 2 hours have gone by. This is one of them. The main character was painful to watch, in his depiction of an american-obsessed, distracted man who is way past the age of manhood, yet not an adult. The monk's story went on and on, because it could. Everything was quite well-balanced in this mystical, lovely movie. 4.8/5

Jesse : Wondrous, mythic, humble, stunning scenery. Excellent subject: Wherever you go/Grass is greener. All non-actor people of Bhutan (the DVD extras explain what many of the players are in reality) thrown together. I really liked this one. Visually quite awesome. Extra points for the Buddhist flave. 4.4/5

The Constant Gardener

Beth: I liked it.

Jesse: Must see again when awake. Despite being tired and grumpy, this film really reeled me in. Great score/soundtrack and visuals. Good script, acting, direction. Extra points for a great ending, not high-siding the Euro-oo7 elements and for not low-lining AFRICA. And for fronting (hushhush) the New slavery. It's a huge continent, a universe all it's own. Really the back alley dumping ground and brothel for the Colonial New World. But don't lets me tell ya. See it. 4.5/5

Spring Forward

Beth: I don't remember this movie at all. What was this movie?

Jesse: Two very good actors attempt to out-understate one another. Ambling, charming and smart. Maybe a bit too stripped down, but I'll forgive for it's overall human simplicity. 4/5

The Saddest Song In the World (I think)

Beth's review:
Another two time viewer that we probably won't finish. I remember laughing out loud at ingenuity splashed here and there in the comedy quite a number of times. I don't remember much more about this one because I was really not sober both times we watched it. Which is sad, because I think this would be a good movie. But alas, it has to go back tomorrow, and I'll not make time to watch a movie during my free time these days. So back it goes!

Jesse's Review:
Actually the Saddest Music in the World. Wonderfully sideways and skewed. Very interesting visuals, pacing, some really funny moments from delicious characters.
Was it realized? I dunno either. We'll see it again some year.

Z

Beth's Review:
I think this movie is called Z. We tried to watch it twice, and then stopped watching it. I forget if it was the untrusty DVD player that made us finally throw in, our our mutual boredom. Or maybe just my boredom. I really don't know. What I do know is what this movie is not:
For children
Happy
Obvious
English-spoken
Bright and sunny
Full of glittering stars in furs
I think that's it.

Jesse's Review: Absent the above, how could Beth like it!?
Truth be told, I had my trouble as well. I always attempt, when watching an 'older' movie, to see it in historical or cultural context. That didn't help here. Points for capturing mob dynamics and underlying political subterfuge--but I shelved it halfway through.
Ya can always return to the classics...

My Summer of Love

Beth's Review: I couldn't remember the title to this one for a moment, and wanted to just paraphrase the title as "Happiness and Girls". I guess that's what this movie gave to me. Happiness, girls, girls being happy together, girls finding their own happiness. I was a bit resentful of the sexualizing of it all, though. I cried out in disbelief when the leading ladies decided that the friendship could be more than that. I guess I'm stuck on the sister situation. You wouldn't fuck your sister. So that's where I stand.

Jesse's Review:
Well, I have to agree. This film I like for it's slice of rurality, the ennui and brazen energy embodied by these two lovely young actresses. Characterizations are few, but rich in subtext. The religious thing here cast in the converted brother (of one of the girls) is brilliant. So are the Cornwall (?) scenery, location scouting and extra suprises! 3.9/5