College (James Horne, Buster Keaton) **1/2

Director: James Horne, Buster Keaton

Cast: Buster Keaton, Anne Cornwall, Harold Goodwin, Snitz Edwards

Background: Not much info can be found on the making of this one, but Buster Keaton said he did not get along with co-director James Horne and ended up directing most of the movie himself. It is also rumored that a scene of Buster playing football was removed to avoid the appearance of copying Harold Lloyd's 1926 comedy The Freshman.

Story: Ronald (Keaton) is a very smart high school student who is named valedictorian of his high school class. During his graduation speech, he derides athletics as being worthless. This upsets his girlfriend Mary (Cornwall), who can't stand his elitist attitude. To win her back, he decides to try and be an athlete when he gets to college. His attempts at being an athlete result in consistent disaster.

Thoughts: You can't deny that Buster is a gifted physical comedian. There's an extended baseball sequence early on that is absolutely hilarious. However, this film contains one of the more blatantly racist moments I've seen. There's a sequence where Buster pretends to be a soda clerk to spy on Mary and the jock she is spending time with. The way he's able to hide from them is by doing blackface. The sequence is awful for many reasons. First of all, it's obvious that he is a white man doing blackface. I mean, it's possible we're to believe that the jock is stupid, but if Mary's that dumb, then perhaps Ronald should move on (more on that later). It's even worse that they've cast actual African-American actors as the other soda clerks, making it even more obvious that Buster would easily be caught. The absolute nadir of this sequence is when it looks like Ronald may be caught, but he saves himself by walking away with a limp. This is far more bothersome than the blackface sequences in The Jazz Singer. I guess we're supposed to think this is okay because Buster gets found out by the black characters when his makeup comes off, and they're really angry at him for it. This still doesn't excuse the fact that this scene is patently stupid because it makes no logical sense or that Buster used a limp for comedic effect. This sequence is so stupid and offensive that it drowns out everything else that goes on, which is a shame, because there is some funny stuff here. Another problem is the character of Mary. We're never given a reason why Buster likes her, and she's mean to him for most of the movie. I'd like just once for Buster to give up at the end of one of these movies, and say the girl isn't worth it.

Postscript: This is not one of Buster’s more memorable films. He would have more success with The General, which was released the same year and followed that up with a pair of highly praised films in 1928: The Cameraman and Steamboat Bill Jr. The sound era came and Buster kept working, but he was never as successful as he was in the silents. Perhaps his most notable performance was a supporting role in 1952’s Limelight, where he appeared alongside none other than Charlie Chaplin.

Seventh Heaven (Frank Borzage) ***1/2

Director: Frank Borzage

Cast: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, David Butler, Albert Gran, Gladys Brockwell

Background: Not much information on the making of this film is available, but at the time Frank Borzage was a veteran director with 57 films to his credit, althought not many of them are available today. The film was adapted from a stage play written by Austin Strong.

Story: In pre-World War 1 Paris, Diane (Gaynor) is a poor young woman living with her sadistic sister (Brockwell). One day, while running from a particularly bad beating, she is rescued by a street cleaner named Chico (Farrell). The circumstances of his rescue mean she must pose as his wife for a period of time and they soon begin to fall in love, but their newfound love is interrupted by the start of World War 1.

Thoughts: This is a textbook example of how to properly make a romantic melodrama. Borzage isn't shy about playing up the seemingly sappy moments as much as possible. Because of this, we are completely drawn into the world he has created. For something that sounds like it could be a dry melodrama, he adds a surprising amount of creativity with the set design, particularly with Chico's 7th floor apartment (hence the title), complete with a bridge that connects him with his best friend across the street. He's aided by two romantic leads who are capable of expressing every overwrought emotion with total conviction. Gaynor and Farrell have so much natural chemistry that it's not surprising at all they would make 11 more films together. Brockwell also delivers a great performance, making the most of her brief scenes as the abusive sister. The ending is as ridiculous as it is romantic, just as it should be.

Postscript: Per Wikipedia, this was the 13th highest grossing silent film in history. It was nominated for 5 Oscars and won three - Best Actress (Gaynor), Best Director (Borzage), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Benjamin Glazer).

This film was a real launching pad for those involved. The same trio would successfully reunite the following year for Street Angel. Borzage would ocntinue directing through the 50s, including a 1932 version of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Gaynor and Farrell would appear in 12 films together. Gaynor would forever be remembered for her performance in FW Murnau's Sunrise, which was released later that year and is now on the AFI list of 100 Greatest American Movies. She would later get another Oscar nomination for the 1937 version of A Star is Born. Farrell would find popularity on the 1950's TV series "My Little Margie".

The Cat and the Canary (Paul Leni) ***1/2

Director: Paul Leni

Cast: Laura La Plante, Creighton Hale, Martha Mattox, Creighton Hale, Forrest Stanley, Tully Marshall, Flora Finch

Background: Paul Leni had made a name for himself with the 1924 German horror film Waxworks and was brought to America by Universal Studios. His first film was the adaptation of John Willard's stage play, The Cat and the Canary.

The Story: A group of relatives get together at a creepy mansion for the reading of their late uncle's will. Annabelle West is the one named to inherit his fortune, but the will has a stipulation. She has to be found sane by a doctor, or the fortune goes to a person named in a separate envelope. The problem is that a series of events begin to make her seem insane to the others.

Thoughts: This is a very creepy early horror film. Leni was one of the German Expressionist filmmakers, but perhaps lesser known than his counterparts Murnau and Lang. That doesn't mean he didn't know what he was doing. Leni invents the classic haunted house genre by lending some vivid atmosphere to the intense psychological premise. A strong cast helps, with Laura La Plante making an excellent heroine, but it is Martha Mattox's wonderfully dry turn as the mansion caretaker Mammy Pleasant that steals the show. There's a great use of sound effects, especially when an ancient clock suddenly starts working again. Leni perhaps could have milked the heroine is crazy theme a bit longer and Creighton Hale's bumbling performance as the male lead is difficult to watch, but this is still a solid horror film.

Postscript: The Cat and the Canary was a success and ended up being a very influential horror film. It was remade several times, but the most successful was the 1939 version starring Bob Hope and Paulette Godard. Director Paul Leni would only make three more films before succumbing to food poisoning. Laura La Plante kept very busy throughout the 30s and then made brief appearance in the 40s and 50s. Martha Mattox would make 38 more films, but mostly in minor roles.

It (Clarence Badger) **1/2

Director: Clarence Badger

Cast: Clara Bow, Antonio Moreno, William Austin, Priscilla Bonner

Background: After the great success of her 1925 film The Plastic Age, Clara Bow became a huge celebrity. She was one of the most talked about stars of her era, gaining as much attention for her off screen escapades as her on screen performances. In 1927, Elinor Glyn adapted her own novel It for the big screen and Bow was cast in the lead role.

Story: Betty Lou Spence (Bow) is a salesgirl who falls in love with her rich boss, Cyrus Waltham Jr. (Moreno), despite the fact that he's already engaged. Their courtship has some roadblocks, including differing social classes, Cyrus's silly friend Monty, and a misunderstanding about her living situation.

Thoughts: This one is certainly better than My Best Girl, mainly because Clara Bow is allowed to be a real woman. If "It" = sex appeal, then Clara has it in spades. She almost makes this film work all on her own. There are still some problematic developments. Moreno is not an interesting enough leading man for her. William Austin's memorable comic turn as Monty completely overshadows him throughout the film. The other problem is the contrived conflict created to separate the couple in the third act. It's all a silly misunderstanding that anyone with two brain cells would have figured out much sooner. The real road block should have been the fact that Cyrus is engaged, but his fiance is given an alarming lack of sympathy. We see nothing that shows why she deserves the treatment she gets in this film, other than a speech from Monty at the end that explains she just doesn't have "It". That's a pretty harsh message for a romantic comedy.

Postscript: It was a huge success at the box office and Bow would become known as The "It" Girl. The same year, she would appear in eventual BEst Picture winner Wings. However, the introduction of talkies and her own personable problems severely limited her career and she made her last film in 1933. Moreno continued getting roles as romantic leads and his career would span through the 50's. Austin played mostly supporting roles throughout his career, including a turn as Alfred in the 1943 film version of Batman. This was the last notable film that Clarence Badger would direct.

My Best Girl (Sam Taylor) **

Director: Sam Taylor

Cast: Mary Pickford, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Sunshine Hart, Lucien Littlefield, Hobart Bosworth

Background: Pickford made a name for herself playing little girl roles in films like Pollyanna and Little Lord Fauntleroy and was called "America's Sweetheart". At the time, she was the biggest female box office star, commanding a salary as high as $10,000 a week. She picked this project out of her desire to play a more adult role.

Story: Joe Merrill (Rogers) is the son of a millionaire who conceals his identity to take a job in the stock room and prove that he can be a success without relying on his father. He meets and eventually falls for co-worker Maggie (Pickford), but his family would rather he marry the sophisticated Millicent Rogers.

Thoughts: This one is pretty bad. Pickford may be playing an adult role, but her character behaves like a child throughout the film. For example, Joe gets promoted over her and her only response is, "I'm surprised you still want to have lunch with me!" The story is pretty slight, although the director attempts to explore the differences between Joe and Maggie's families, he's unable to do so with such a short running time (72 minutes). I can see why people loved Pickford back then, but it's not enough to make this movie work.

Postscript: The film was a success, grossing over $1 million and (according to Wikipedia) was the 11th highest grossing film of the year.

My Best Girl was Pickford's last silent film. Two years later she would star in Coquette and win the Oscar for Best Actress. The sound era would eventually kill her career, and she made her last film in 1933. She would go on to marry her co-star Buddy Rogers, who acted in supporting parts through the 50's.

Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, 2008) ***

Dir. Ben Stiller
Starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Danny McBride

A little over a decade ago, Ben Stiller directed a film called THE CABLE GUY. It was a daring move considering it starred the biggest box office star at the time, Jim Carrey, and put him in a dark comedy that many of his fans didn't get. The movie wasn't without flaws, but it showed plenty of promise for Stiller as a director willing to take chances. It was unfortunate then to see Stiller mired in a bunch of predictably boring choices such as MEET THE PARENTS, STARSKY & HUTCH, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, and ZOOLANDER. That's why Stiller’s latest effort TROPIC THUNDER is so refreshing, because it recalls the Stiller that was willing to take chances and risk offending his audience.

TROPIC THUNDER is about the making of a war movie set during the Vietnam war. The production is running through several problems, mainly because the big name stars are not getting along on the set. They include the big action movie star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), whose career has been dwindling of late; serious Australian thespian Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), who has undergone a procedure so he can play an African-American sergeant; and lowbrow comedy star Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), who battles a serious drug problem. These egos cause major disruption on the set, so the frustrated director decides to send them into the jungle so they can experience firsthand what combat was like. The actors get more than they bargained for when they accidentally find themselves in a very real war with a drug kingpin.

Stiller quickly introduces us to the characters by showing the trailers for some of their most notable films. This is cleverly done without any notice that the movie has started. The trailers are a little too over the top and not quite as funny as the ones seen in GRINDHOUSE or THE HOLIDAY, but they’re funny enough to open the movie to a good start. It’s an early sign that Stiller isn’t interested in keeping things realistic. The whole film exists in a kind of exaggerated reality that is close enough to be recognizable but far away enough to prevent a real connection with the characters. In a satire, that isn’t too bad, as long as it still makes incisive points and does so in a funny way.

Thankfully, unlike the surprisingly impotent satire that Hollywood has delivered of late (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING and AMERICAN DREAMZ), Stiller is willing to push the boundaries of taste and offend just about anyone. TOPIC THUNDER includes among other things: a young boy being tossed off a bridge for comedic effect, Robert Downey Jr. in black makeup, a spoof of movies about mentally disabled people, and an extended Jack Black comedic riff where he offers some disgusting things if his co-stars will untie him from a tree. Of course, Stiller avoids being considered completely mean-spirited because he’s really attacking the same Hollywood system that has made him a success, and many of the jabs could be considered jokes at Stiller’s expense as much as anyone else.

TROPIC THUNDER owes a lot to the films of Judd Apatow, whose works have brought adult comedy back to life. It’s not a surprise then that several Apatow regulars show up here. Jay Baruchel (UNDECLARED, KNOCKED UP) plays perhaps the only sensible person in the entire film, and is incredulous that none of the other actors have read the novel the movie is based on, or even read their script. (Downey’s hilarious nonsensical retort: “I don’t read the script. The script reads me.”) Danny McBride hops on over from a hilarious performance in the very recent Pineapple Express and is very funny once again as the overly enthusiastic special effects coordinator. Finally, Bill Hader (SUPERBAD, KNOCKED UP, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL) appears as the studio chief’s assistant, whose boss tells him that his job could be done by a trained monkey.

However, the performance that really deserves to be talked about is Robert Downey Jr. He’s had an inconsistent career, but when he’s on his game (SOAPDISH, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, TWO GIRLS AND A GUY) he proves to be one of the most talented actors in Hollywood. He already started his comeback earlier this year with a stellar turn in IRON MAN, and his brilliant performance here completes the turnaround. Downey’s not doing blackface, as some people have erroneously reported. He’s playing an ultra-serious Australian method actor (think Russell Crowe) who has undergone a procedure to play an African-American character. Downey’s performance is pitch perfect, hilariously lampooning the Hollywood view of what a black character should look and sound like. Everything Spike Lee was trying to say in Bamboozled was said in a much more incisive (and funny) way here. In an era where Hollywood pats itself on the back for the ludicrously simplistic examination of racial affairs in the Oscar winning CRASH, Downey’s character is a welcome wake up call.

Stiller’s movie isn’t without flaws. It runs into several problems during the third act that really slow down the proceedings. The revelation of the leader of the drug gang is a joke that falls completely flat, as the character is incessantly annoying, sapping much of the comic momentum created by the rest of the cast. Also, the third act relies too much on conventional plot elements to find an ending. There’s still some good stuff there, but not quite as funny as the more loosely structured middle act. Despite the flaws, TROPIC THUNDER is a very funny movie that proves Stiller still has talent as a director and Downey is one of the best modern actors.

The Kid Brother (Ted Wilde and JA Howe) ***1/2

Director: Ted Wilde and J.A. Howe

Cast: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Walter James, Leo Willis, Olin Francis, Constantine Romanoff

Background: Harold Lloyd was one of the most successful silent comedians at the time, having had great success with Safety Last! (which features one of the most memorable stunts in film history), Girl Shy, and The Freshman. Harold brought in eight writers to this one because he wanted it to have more gags than any other film. It is inspired by the 1921 silent classic Tol'able David.

Story: Harold Hickory (Lloyd) is the youngest of three brothers, and his father is the town sheriff. His two older brothers are bigger and tougher, and earn more respect from dad. They also like to pick on poor Harold constantly. One day, a medicine show travels to town, and Harold falls in love with Mary Powers (Ralston), one of the performers. When the medicine show burns down, the proprietor steals money from the sheriff, who is now accused of being a thief. Harold must try to get the money back so he can earn the respect of his father and the love of Mary.

Thoughts: It's interesting that Lloyd wanted this film to have the most gags, because it is actually a pretty plot heavy movie. That doesn't detract from the humor, though. This one might not be quite as funny or memorable as Safety Last!, but it still contains some wonderful comic set pieces. One of my favorites is an extended sequence where Harold is being chased by his brothers. He poses as his father to get away, but they're on to him. However, Harold pulls a clever switcheroo at the last minute and the brothers end up attacking their own father. There are many other great moments, including a cute climbing sequence that brought back memories of Safety Last!. The story is a classic one of an underdog trying to prove his worth, and it's very easy to root for Harold here.

Postscript: The Kid Brother performed well at the box office and is considered one of Lloyd's best films. (It has the 2nd highest score of all of his films on IMDB.) Harold would make only one more silent film (Speedy) before transitioning to the sound era, where he had moderate success in the 30's. He would make a comeback in the late 40's with the Preston Sturges' The Sins of Harold Diddlebock. Jobyna Ralston would have a supporting role in the box office smash Wings (also in 1927), but her career would be over by 1931.

Metropolis (Fritz Lang) ****

Director: Fritz Lang

Cast: Alfred Abel, Gustav Frohlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Brigitte Helm, Heinrich George

Background: Director Fritz Lang had already made a name for himself with early silent films Spiders, Destiny, and especially Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. Armed with a budget bigger than any film of that time, Lang co-wrote the screenplay of his next film, an ambitious science fiction story.

The Story: Lang’s story is about a futuristic city where there is big dividing line between the classes. The privileged planners and thinkers sit high in the beautiful skyscrapers living a life of luxury. Down below, the miserably treated workers toil to keep the city running. Joh Frederson (Alfred Abel) is the unsympathetic ruler of the city. One day his naïve son Freder (Gustav Frohlich) follows a beautiful woman down to the worker’s city and gets his first glimpse of their life. He is horrified and quickly joins their rebellious cause.

Thoughts: It doesn't get much better than this. I'd already seen Fritz Lang's 1921 film Destiny, and was impressed with how the plot moved with so much purpose. But that was a pretty simple 1-2-3 narrative structure. With his ambitious science fiction story, Lang had a much more complex narrative to deal with, and even the impressive sets constructed for Destiny were simplistic compared to what would be needed to fully visualize his screenplay. It's amazing then that not at one single moment does this movie drag or get lost in the intricate plot. Lang moves us through several different story points and fascinating twists, and he does it with a mesmerizing visual flair that stands up as an impressive achievement even today. Metropolis remains one of the most impressive achievements of art direction in cinematic history. The actors should get some credit, too. They all turn in splendid work, especially Klein-Rogge as the classic mad scientist Rotwang. Amazing that the Nazi party was fascinated with the film, considering that they clearly weren't interested in the kind of mediation that was at the heart of Lang's message.

Postscript: Not many people have seen the full version of Metropolis, because it was heavily edited after the German premiere, and the uncut version was thought lost for many years. The version I saw had title cards inserted to explain missing scenes. However, the good news is that a complete edition of the film was recently found and is being set for a 2009 DVD release. Metropolis

Fritz Lang would continue to make movies through the 50's, leaving for Hollywood after divorcing his wife (she joined the Nazi party.) HIs later films had mixed results, but 1931's M is considered by some to be a masterpeice on the same level as Metropolis. The cast mostly continued to work in German films, but none was able to branch out to Hollywood with any kind of major success.

The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland) **

Director: Alan Crosland

Cast: Al Jolson, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer, May McAvoy, Otto Lederer

Background: Al Jolson was a very successful theater star. Playwright Samson Raphaelson wrote a play based on Jolson's life. The play was a Broadway hit and Warner Bros. acquired the rights. After failing to get their first two choices, they ended up with Jolson, the person it was based on, in the lead role. The Jazz Singer would be the first feature length film to have synchronized dialogue.

The Story: Jakie Rabinowitz is a talented singer, but prefers singing jazz tunes and dreams of a show business career, while his father (Warner Oland) would rather he follow in the family footsteps and become a cantor. After getting caught singing jazz tunes at a night club, Jakie and his dad get into a huge fight, eventually leading to Jakie's departure from home. The next time we see him is ten years later, performing at a cabaret. No matter how successful he gets (including winning a major role in a Broadway show), Jack is conflicted about his father, especially as the old man gets sick.

Thoughts: The first problem we run into is Jolson's performance. He certainly does do a good job with the song and dance numbers. There's no denying Jolson's musical talent. However, as a film actor, Jolson is definitely lacking. He wears the same earnest expression throughout the entire film, and is unable to convey the complex emotions that his character would be experiencing. Compare that to the exquisite performance from Warner Oland as his father and it's easy to see how Jolson doesn't really belong in the same medium. The story itself if pure hokum, and it would take a captivating actor to make it work. No matter how good Jolson does with his song and dance numbers, that's a minimal portion of the film and the dramatic moments are undercut by his inexpressiveness. Yes, he does blackface at the end, and yes it is distracting (whatever his true intentions were), but the film has enough problems before you even start that discussion. Notable only for inspiring the onset of talkies.

Postscript: The Jazz Singer was the #1 box office performer of the year. The success of the film ushered in the sound era. AFI chose it in their intitial 100 Greatest American Movies list, but dropped it from the update in 2007.

Jolson was now a big box office star and his next film (The Singing Fool) made even more money than The Jazz Singer. After that, his films were less successful although he did receive some critical acclaim for Lewis Milestone's Hallelujah, I'm a Bum. In 1946, a very successful biopic (The Jolson Story) was released about Jolson's life. Director Crosland kept making movies for another decade, but none of them were very notable. Warner Oland would hit it big as Charlie Chan.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (FW Murnau) ****

Director: FW Murnau

Cast: George O' Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston

Background: FW Murnau had already made a name for himself with his German films Nosferatu, The Last Laugh, and Faust. He caught the attention of William Fox, head of the Fox Film Corporation, who invited him to Hollywood and gave Murnau complete creative freedom to make whatever movie he wanted. Murnau decided to adapt a German novel (The Excursion to Tilsit) and the result was Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans.

The Story: A married man (O' Brien) is cheating on his wife (Gaynor) with a woman from the city (Livingston). The woman wants him to move to the city with her, and conceives a plan for him to kill his wife by drowning her. The man can't go through with it, but the wife is now afraid and runs away from him. He follows her to the city, where they spend the rest of their day as he tries to get her to forgive him.

Thoughts: It's not hard to see why this is considered one of the greatest films ever made. Murnau's ability to tell a story without using extensive title cards is very impressive (he previously made the Last Laugh without a single title card). The film really comes alive once they hit the city. The city is portrayed very energetically. For example, I love the shots where the couple crosses the street seemingly unaware of the cars speeding by them. There's also some unexpected comic relief. A sequence where the man chases down a drunk pig would feel right at home in a Chaplin, Keaton, or Lloyd film. Gaynor's performance is particularly remarkable. She portrays the wife as a lonely and then frightened woman who is rejuvenated by her husband's newfound love for her. I did find the ending to be a bit curious. The jarring juxtaposition of the final two scenes suggests that Murnau was going for something darker than most people have attributed. This is still a great film, whatever the intent of the ending.

Postscript: Sunrise was the 12th highest grossing film of the year, and went on three awards at the very first Oscar ceremony (Best Artistic Production, Best Actress, Best Cinematography). It appeared on Sight and Sound's 2002 top 10 list of greatest films ever made, and the updated 2007 AFI list of 100 Greatest Films at #82.

Murnau would only make three more films, none of them reaching the same acclaim as this one. Janey Gaynor continued to be very successful over the next decade, with her most notable performance coming in 1937's A Star is Born. George O'Brien kept acting through the 50's, but was never a notable star.

It All Begins - 1927

The Top 10 Movie Project originally started as its own separate blog. The purpose was a way to catch up with classic cinema. Plus I'm a list junkie, so being able to form top 10 lists after each year added some appeal to the idea. The idea is to watch a certain number of films from each year (20-30) comprising of a mixture of the most notable films, films from directors or actors that I really like, or films that have been recommended.

You may be asking why I started with 1927. I looked through several different years and it seemed to be the first year with enough quality movies (available for release) to form a top 10 list. 1927 is considered an extremely strong year for cinema and it was also the first year for the Academy Awards. It is possible that I will go back to earlier years once I complete the project, assuming more films will be released from that era by then.

The list of films I'm watching for 1927 includes the obvious classics (Metropolis, Sunrise, The General), noteworthy films (The Jazz Singer, Wings), films with big stars (Mary Pickford in My Best Girl, Clara Bow in It, Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford in The Unknown, Douglas Fairbanks in The Gaucho), a film from by one of my favorite classic directors (Lubitsch's Student Prince in Old Heidelberg), some rare curiosities (Josef von Sternberg's Underworld, Marion Davies in Quality Street), some notable foreign films (Bed and Sofa, The End of St. Petersburg, The Chess Player), and many more. The full list is on the right.

Almost all of these are available on Netflix. There are three movies I had to purchase. I bought VHS editions of The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg and Wings, and bought a rare DVD version of Underworld from a private collector.

Films are counted for the year of their US premiere, as long as that is within a reasonable amount of time from their international release year (no more than 3 years.) Otherwise, the film is counted for the international release year. This rule pushes Hitchcock's The Lodger, Eisenstein's October, Pudovkin's The End of St. Petersburg, Barnet's The Girl With the Hatbox, and several other films to later years.

The most interesting movie that is not available is Barbed Wire, starring Pola Negri. I'm looking out for it.

Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green, 2008) ***

Dir. David Gordon Green
Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Rosie Perez, Gary Cole

Judd Apatow is certainly the best thing that has happened to adult oriented comedy in a long time. Not only did his previous films (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) prove that you could make money without resorting to cutting everything possible to get a PG-13 rating, but he also proved that you could combine lowbrow humor with sharp, observational character development. Many of his protege's have now taken his lead and have been extremely successful, although recent outings have unfortunately amped up the raunchy elements and disposed with much of the strong character work that was evident in films directed by Apatow. Pineapple Express mostly falls into this trap, although it is still an extremely funny film.

The film follows Dale Denton (Seth Rogen), a process server who likes pot very, very much. One day while getting ready to serve someone, he witnesses a murder. He gets spotted by the killer because it's not that easy to make a smooth getaway when you're high. This sends both Dale and his pot dealer Saul (James Franco) on the run. Going to the cops is out of the question, because one of the people involved in the murder was a policewoman (Rosie Perez). Their day gets worse and worse as it goes along, including a double crossing friend, a car that won't start, a furious girlfriend, her even more furious parents, and a warehouse gunfight.

David Gordon Green is an interesting choice to direct this material. He's a well respected indie auteur who made a memorable debut with the small town drama George Washington. At first, he seems like an odd choice for the material, because none of his previous films have had a hint of humor in them. However, those films were all about disaffected people that didn't really fit in with the rest of society, and that's exactly the case with the characters in Pineapple Express. There's never a hint that he doesn't know how mine humor from a situation, and he seems right at home with even the most outlandish comic moments. The part that eludes him is the final warehouse gunfight. It's an elaborate action sequence with three different sets of people all trying to kill one another, but Green doesn't really know how to stage it properly. There are several cuts at awkward moments and he too often relies on the bad guys taking illogical actions.

Still, the lack of an effective action sequence wouldn't really doom a movie like this, which isn't meant to be taken seriously in the first place. However, that's kind of the problem. Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Handler wrote this script, and it runs into the same problems as their earlier collaboration in Superbad. Dale and Saul are likable guys and we want to root for them, but their screenplay would rather tell as many (admittedly funny) lowbrow jokes as possible instead of taking some more time to develop the rest of the characters. Almost all of the supporting characters – the policewoman, the killer, the hitmen, the girlfriend, her parents – are decidedly one dimensional.

This is much different than the films directed by Apatow himself. Both Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin contained a deep cast of characters that were both funny and real. For example, Knocked Up had time to develop a realistic marital subplot in the midst of all the craziness and didn't sacrifice the humor one bit. Another Apatow vet, Jason Segel, got into the game earlier this year with the wonderful Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The differences in the approach between Segel and Rogen are very noticeable. Like Apatow, Segel's crazy comic moments co-exist with warm, human moments and a deep cast of fully realized characters.

Of course, it would be wrong to deny that this is a very funny movie. Rogen and Franco are both terrific in their roles and have a wonderful comic chemistry. It's especially refreshing to see Franco back in a comedic role, as his mumbling dramatic performances have become increasingly interminable to watch. Rogen and Handler's screenplay is littered with one hilarious joke after another, but it is simply missing that extra depth that Apatow and Segel have brought to their films.

American Teen (Nanette Burstein, 2008) ***1/2

Dir. Nanette Burstein

Nanette Burstein’s American Teen is an interesting documentary because of the style it uses to tell the story of five real high school teenagers. People view most documentaries as completely detached form their subject, offering an objective view of the events they are documenting. This is very rarely the case. Even in the documentaries that appear to be completely authentic, you can bet that parts of it were manipulated to get to the end result. With American Teen, Nanette Burstein has disposed with any pretensions of authenticity by clearly staging many elements of her documentary. The result is a surprisingly rewarding film that still manages to capture essence of the lives of her subjects.

American Teen specifically focuses on the lives of four teenagers at a midwestern high school. Each of the fills a specific type, although we learn that they are each far more interesting than that. Hannah is the liberal artist who feels out of place in this town and dreams of going to the big city for college. Colin is the popular basketball player, who wants to earn a scholarship so he can get out of town. Megan is the spoiled rich girl, hoping to please her family by getting accepted at Notre Dame. Jake is the band geek who is very awkward in social situations.


The best documentaries capture real life events that are more interesting than what we'd see in a fictional film on the same subject. For example, Jeffrey Blitz's wonderful Spellbound followed eight students as they competed in the national spelling bee. It was far more exciting and interesting than the fictional Akeelah and the Bee, which was mired in cliche's that had nothing to do with real life. American Teen is an interesting case, because it arrived at the Atlanta Film Festival with an ad campaign comparing itself directly to the popular 80s film The Breakfast Club (although that has curiously been dropped for the theatrical release). The clever poster even shows each of the characters in the same poses as the well known poster from the earlier film. It’s easy to see why Burstein chose this comparison as the underlying themes are similar, particularly the exploration of stereotypes and their effect on high school life.

It’s clear that many of the sequences are manufactured. For example, Burstein will have a shot of someone staring out a window, and it’s doubtful that she just sat there waiting all day for that moment to come up. A relationship between Jake and a cute girl that he likes seems to have been pushed along by Burstein. Colin’s basketball skills seem to have been exaggerated. He’s presented as a big star, but there is little evidence on film to support that fact. A fifth character, popular basketball player Mitch, seems to have been added as a main character after the fact and we never really get to know him well.

However, none of this really hurts the film. Despite all of the interference by the director, American Teen still captures an authentic look at high school life. It’s hard not to root for Hannah as she navigates some major highs and lows throughout the school year. She’s a winning personality, and it’s easy to see why she becomes the emotional center of the documentary. It says a lot about how things have changed since the 80s that the Molly Ringwald character was the central focus of The Breakfast Club, and now it’s the Ally Sheedy character that takes center stage.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of American Teen are the very real moments that it manages to capture amidst all the staged situations. At one point, a character treats his girlfriend so poorly at a party, and breaks up with her in such a humiliatingly mean fashion that he must have forgot the cameras were there. However, what will stay with me for a long time is the startlingly cruel behavior displayed by Megan throughout the film. I think only Daniel Waters could conceive (screenwriter of Heathers) could dream up a character so mean. Burstein may have staged many of her shots, but her film manages to capture a truth that few other documentaries have been able to approach.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Rob Cohen, 2008) *

Dir. Rob Cohen
Starring Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford, Isabelle Leong

The first Mummy film was hardly great cinema, but it was easy to see what people liked about it. It told a classic adventure story right out of Hollywood's golden age. Leads Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz knew not to take things seriously and delivered fun, tongue in cheek performances. Now here we are with the third film in the series. We have a new director and a new leading lady and it's a complete disaster in almost every possible way.

Rick and Evelyn O'Connell (Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello) are taking a peaceful break from mummy killing. However, their son Alex (Luke Ford) decides he wants to follow in his father's footsteps and starts exploring himself. Unfortunately, he manages to awaken China's Dragon Emperor (Jet Li), who calls forth his terra cotta army to bring destruction upon the world. This brings his parents back into the game, and they are aided by the ageless sorceress Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh) who had originally cursed the Emperor, and her daughter Lin (Isabella Leong), who has been the guardian of the Emperor's tomb.

The plot is of course extremely silly and doesn't even bother to pretend to attempt anything remotely resembling historical accuracy. That certainly doesn't matter in a movie like this. The back story is good enough to set up an exciting adventure for our characters. The problem is that the rest of the story was very poorly developed, featuring an unnecessary romantic subplot and mostly unimaginative action scenes that fail to liven things up.

One of the biggest mistakes was recasting the character of Evelyn. Maria Bello is a very talented actress, and if you don't believe me, then see her performances in A History of Violence and The Cooler. Unfortunately, she was all wrong for this role. She spends the whole movie seemingly distracted by trying to imitate Rachel Weisz, and her attempts to play things for laughs make her seem heavily medicated more than anything else. It's a disastrous performance that hampers the film throughout the entire running time. If they couldn't get Weisz back, then they should have created a new character instead of trying to force another actress into a role she clearly wasn't prepared to inhabit.

Another serious error is the attempt to draw a romance between Alex and Lin. There is never any chemistry established, and when Alex's mom talks to him about his feelings for the girl, it feels like it comes out of nowhere. There is little evidence of chemistry or attraction between the two characters, and the dialogue written for the pair is just abysmal. This is a badly forced story point and is not helped by the screenwriter's constant stream of unfunny old age jokes directed at Lin.

The special effects are good enough on a technical sense, but not much is done with them to create excitement. The only memorable scene from the movie involves two Yetis who are actually called to protect the heroes. Everything else is pretty much a complete misfire. You'd think a movie where Michelle Yeoh battles Jet Li, it'd be hard to make it dull, but director Rob Cohen has achieved the seemingly impossible. The inevitable fight scene between the two at the end is a disappointingly pedestrian affair.

The problem with a movie like this is when it fails to deliver on its promise to create excitement or campy humor, there's nothing left to fall back on. It becomes an interminable exercise in waiting for the end credits to roll. The film is only 112 minutes long, but as the events of this story slowly worked their way to the conclusion, I couldn't help but think that mummification seemed like a pretty good idea.

The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008) ****

Dir. Christopher Nolan
Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal

This has been a good year for superhero movies. Films like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were solid examples of the genre, and even Hancock was a fun, if not entirely successful, departure from the standard formula. However, nothing prepared us for what Christopher Nolan had in store for The Dark Knight. Even Batman Begins feels like it was made in a different decade, much less the same film series. Christopher Nolan's complex examination of morality in the world of Gotham city is a stunningly original achievement, and qualifies as one of the best big budget films ever made.

In the year since the events of Batman Begins took place, crime is still rampant in Gotham City. Batman (Christian Bale) is determined to finally take out organized crime for good, and his faithful ally Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) is there to help him. Also arriving on the scene is new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who makes a splash by putting hundreds of criminals in jail by linking them all to one person. Meanwhile, a new criminal called the Joker (Heath Ledger) is starting to make a name for himself, and is soon hired by the mob to kill Batman.

What's so fascinating about The Dark Knight is how Nolan directs it without the slightest hint that he knows he's supposed to be making a superhero movie. This is a bleak and moody story of what a criminal mastermind can do to a city, and it bears more relation to a Martin Scorcese crime pic than the Batman films directed by Tim Burton. This is quickly evident during the opening sequence, which features a precisely edited bank heist that devolves into a classic gunfight. This scene sets the mood so well that you almost expect James Cagney to show up at some point.

Of all the superheroes, it does make sense that this style would work so well with Batman. After all, he doesn't really have any powers. He's just an ordinary guy with superb physical skills and superior technological gadgets, so he's a natural fit for a movie set under more realistic circumstances. The most surprising thing is that Nolan was able to get away with it. There's not one minute of this film that hints of studio interference, particularly in a key sequence midway through the film where a brutally uncompromising plot development occurs that becomes a major turning point for each of the characters.

By setting the movie under these circumstances, Nolan is able to fully explore the complex ethical questions that he raises. Harvey Dent's ability to strike a blow against the criminal underworld becomes an inspiration to the people of Gotham City, and provides hope to Batman that he may no longer be needed. However, the Joker's machinations put a quick end to that, and Batman and his allies are forced to pull out all the stops in an effort to stop him. This includes the use of a high tech surveillance system and an interrogation scene that definitely fits the description of torture.

There have been attempts to link these events to supporting a conservative political message. However, a careful examination of the events shows that such discussion is clearly misguided. If anything, the eventual result of the interrogation scene proves the opposite point. Also, it is a complete disservice to the film to frame the events in such a simplistic manner. This is a movie where difficult decisions are made and easy answers are not found. Batman goes down paths that he would rather not take, and his ultimate goal is not to invade privacy or beat suspects, but it is to protect the image of Harvey Dent, who he feels is Gotham's true hero because he doesn't have to resort to the same tactics.

The only way Nolan could pose such difficult moral questions was to have a villain so terrifying that he forced our heroes to ask them. In Heath Ledger, he found an actor that was on top of his game (having just turned in a brilliant performance in Brokeback Mountain) and completely willing to throw everything he had into his portrayal of the Joker. What we come away with is an inspired take on the Joker as an absolutely demented sociopath devoted to nothing more than causing pain and chaos at every turn. It's a landmark portrayal that will not be forgotten for a long time.

The other key piece to the puzzle is Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Harvey Dent. Eckhart is an actor that has been around the block, turning in a memorable performance as a cruel chauvinist in Neil LaBute's In the Company of Men. He's turned in solid work since then, but has usually been limited by poorly written roles in bigger budget films. This is where he finally gets to shine, delivering a nuanced portrayal of Gotham's righteous legal crusader. He completely sells the idea that the public would begin to revere him, which is very crucial for Nolan's story to work. As played by Eckhart with an ingratiating eagerness to do the right thing, it is impossible to not believe in Harvey Dent.

The Dark Knight is a long movie, but not one moment of it feels unnecessary. There are several superb action set pieces, including an extended chase sequence involving helicopters and a semi, and numerous fascinating plot developments that keep the movie alive throughout the 152 minute running time. This is an incredible achievement in film making, and should serve as a shining example to all directors and studio heads that dedication to providing original, uncompromising storytelling does not scare audiences away.

Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov, 2008) **

Dir. Timur Bekmambetov
Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terrence Stamp, Common


Wanted is a movie with outrageous action scenes that defy any sense of logic or understanding of physics. The filmmakers are clearly interested in freeing themselves from such constraints when devising these sequences. There's certainly nothing wrong with this. At it's best, Wanted is an exhilerating ride, filled with so many spectacular feats that go so far over the top, you're not sure whether to laugh or applaud. That's why it's so strange that the film takes a big detour in the second act and focuses on a series of sequences filled with nothing but unpleasant brutality.

James McAvoy's main character is named Wesley, but he might as well have been named CC Baxter. Not only is he stuck in a dead end cubicle job, but the only sex going on in his apartment is between his girlfriend and best friend. Things change instantly when he meets a beautiful woman who goes by the name of Fox (Angelina Jolie). Suddenly he finds himself in the middle of a gunfight, as Fox tries to protect him from a would be assassin. The extended gunfight and frenetic car chase is an exciting action set piece and gets the movie off to a promising start. Unfortunately, that promise would quickly dissipate.

Wesley learns that his father was a member of a team of assassins with special abilities like bending a bullet. Sensing that he has similar abilities as his father, they have recruited him to join their ranks. Wesley decides that his humdrum life is not worth living and takes up the challenge. The bulk of the second act focuses on Wesley's training and it is here where the film seriously falls apart. What was an exciting, if ridiculous action movie, now became a dark exercise in brutal training sequences. It's as if director Timur Bekmambetov wanted to turn a stylish action pic into his own version of Fight Club. A few moments of this would have worked for the necessary, but it was a colossal mistake to spend so much time on it and to do it in an annoyingly repetitive fashion.

That being said, the film does wake up for a fairly exciting conclusion. The promise of the beginning is finally realized with a series of creative action scenes. Particularly fascinating is an extended cat and mouse game on a passenger train that turns deadlier than you might expect. Unfortunately, there was little reason to care about the ridiculous story at this point, so what we end up with was a nice technical display of cinematic skill, but it was hard to truly care about the fate of the characters, and the hopelessly banal resolution didn't help matters.

It should be noted that the strong cast does what they can with the material. Angelina Jolie's Fox remains a mystery throughout the film, but her stunning screen presence more than makes up for that. Morgan Freeman shows up as the leader of the assassin group, and this is the kind of role that he could sleepwalk through. It's not going to be one of his most memorable performances, but he lends a certain credibility to the story that would have seemed even more ridiculous in the hands of a lesser actor.

Wanted was based on a comic book miniseries of the same name, so it's possible that some of storytelling problems remain from the original source material. That still does not excuse the filmmakers from their poor decisions. If you pick a bad story for your source material and make a film out of it, then your film still has a bad story. Whatever the reasoning, Bekmambetov took what could have been a fun, original action movie and ruined it with a thoroughly unpleasant middle section.

Movies Seen - 2008

Here is a listing of releases from 2008 that I saw, sorted by rating...

****

The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)


***1/2

American Teen (Nanette Burstein)
The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nicholas Stoller)


***

At the Death House Door (Peter Gilbert, Steve James)
Bama Girl (Rachel Goslins)
Hancock (Peter Berg)
Iron Man (Jon Favreau)
Nerdcore Rising (Negin Farsad)

Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)

Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller)


**1/2

Dance of the Dead (Gregg Bishop)
Get Smart (Peter Segal)
The Incredible Hulk (Louis Leterrier)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg)
Make Out With Violence (Deagol Bros.)
Monster Camp (Cukken Hoback)
Towelhead (Alan Ball)


**

Cloverfield (Matt Reeves)
Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov)
Water Lilies (Céline Sciamma)


*1/2

Bohica (DJ Paul)


*

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Rob Cohen)

Films Seen - 1929

Alibi (Roland West)
Asphalt (Joe May)
Applause (Rouben Mamoulian)
Arsenal (Alexander Dovzhenko)
Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock)
The Broadway Melody (Harry Beaumont)
The Cocoanuts (Robert Florey, Joseph Santley)
Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst)
Erotikon (Gustav Machaty)
Eternal Love (Ernst Libitsch)
Hallelujah! (King Vidor)
The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan)
The Last Warning (Paul Leni)
The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch)
The Love Trap (William Wyler)
Lucky Star (Frank Borzage)
Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)
The Manxman (Alfred Hitchcock)
Marianne (Robert Z. Leonard)
Napoleon (Abel Gance)
Pandora's Box (GW Pabst)
Spite Marriage (Edward Sedgwick)
Queen Kelly (Erich Von Stroheim)
Spies (Fritz Lang)
They Had to See Paris (Frank Borzage)

Films Seen - 1928

• A Girl in Every Port (Howard Hawks)
• A Woman of Affairs (Clarence Brown)
• Battle of the Sexes (DW Griffith)
• Beggars of Life (William Wellman)
• Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Walter Ruttman)
• The Cameraman (Edward Sedgwick)
• The Circus (Charles Chaplin)
• The Crowd (King Vidor)
• The Docks of New York (Josef Von Sternberg)
• Doomsday (Rowland v. Lee)
• The End of St. Petersburg (Vsevolod Pudovkin)
• The Fall of the House of Usher (Jean Epstein)
• Four Sons (John Ford)
• The Garden of Eden (Lewis Milestone)
• Hangman's House (John Ford)
• The Last Command (Josef Von Sternberg)
• Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Herbert Brenon)
• The Lodger (Alfred Hitchcock)
• The Love of Jeanne Ney (GW Pabst)
• The Man Who Laughs (Paul Leni)
• The Mysterious Lady (Fred Niblo)
• October (Sergei Eisenstein)
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer)
• The Patsy (King Vidor)
• Show People (King Vidor)
• Speedy (Ted Wilde)
• Steamboat Bill Jr. (Charles Reisner)
• Street Angel (Frank Borzage)
• Tempest (Sam Taylor)
• The Wedding March (Erich Von Stroheim)
• The Wind (Victor Sjostrom)

Films Seen - 1927

• Bed and Sofa (Abram Room)
• The Cat and the Canary (Paul Leni)
• Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Shoedsack)
• College (James Horne, Buster Keaton)
• The General (Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton)
• It (Clarence Badger)
• The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland)
• The Kid Brother (Ted Wilde and JA Howe)
• Love (Edmund Goulding)
• Metropolis (Fritz Lang)
• My Best Girl (Sam Taylor)
• Quality Street (Sidney Franklin)
• Seventh Heaven (Frank Borzage)
• The Siren of the Tropics (Henri Etievant, Mario Nalpas)
• The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (Ernst Lubitsch)
• Sunrise (FW Murnau)
• Underworld (Josef von Sternberg)
• The Unknown (Tod Browning)
• Wings (William A. Wellman)