A Gilded Planet

Howl 2010. 84 minutes. USA. Directed by Rob Epstein and Friedman Watchdate: 10/9/2010 A terrible disappointment. I haven't seen many movies that squander so much potential in every possible way. Apart from excellent performances by James Franco, David Straithern and Jeff Daniels among others, and the poem itself which is as brilliant is ever, almost nothing worked about this movie. And there were so many good ideas that were so poorly executed! Combining animation with documentary and live action dramatization? Right on, I'm with you. But don't get cheap, generic animation. Don't drop using the documentary footage inserts halfway through the movie. Don't shoot dramatizations devoid of all drama. What a waste of time, especially considering what could have been. Throne of Blood  1957. 109 minutes. Japan. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Watchdate: 10/9/2010 Having designed lights for a stage production of Macbeth, I have seen the play and its component scenes dozens of t...

I watched these movies on my 21st birthday. Marwencol 2010. 83 minutes. USA. Directed by Jeff Malmberg. Watchdate: 12/9/2010 Happily, this was a exceedingly superb movie. I anticipate it will easily make my best of movies released in 2010 list, probably in the top 3. I suppose that it helps that I saw it at a matinee on my birthday, and drank bottles of my first legal beers as I watched. But anyway, obsessive world builders like the man in this movie always entrance me probably because I am something of one myself. But as compelling as the subject is, the Malmberg tells the story more cleverly than I would have imagined. He builds tension and unveils revelations in the same way that many great narrative directors do. A story about a man with brain damage from a bar fight learning how to live in the world by building his own world, the titular war torn Belgian town crafted out of wood and GI Joe and Barbie dolls world could make a great movie. That would have been enough. The man gai...