RV!: Shutter Island (2010) and RV!: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

RV!: Shutter Island (2010) Dir: Martin Scorsese Date Released: February 2010 Date Seen: January 7, 2011 Rating: 4/5

RV!: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Dir: Robert Wiene Date Released: March 1921 Date Seen: January 8, 2011 Rating: 4.5/5

All your base are belong to Caligari. See my piece on the pervasive influence of Robert Wiene's classic at Fandor.

3) Little Fockers (2010)

3) Little Fockers (2010) Dir: Paul Weitz Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: January 6, 2011 Rating: 0.5/5

Note: I wrote this piece as part of a deal I made with my friend Tony Oop (not his last name). In exchange for $40, I wrote an overwhelmingly positive Little Fockers review. I got a kick out of writing this piece because it gave me the chance to poke fun of the image people seem to have of me as Armond Jr. or something. It ain't me, babe. The piece is called: Fock to the Future: On the Evolution of Character in 'Little Fockers'

Most franchises don't need to be trilogies. It's sad but true: most of the time, you don't need to see characters do the same things they did in one film in a second film, let alone a third one. I say this after having seen Little Fockers, the best third entry in an American comedy series you're likely to see. That's not hyperbole, folks: this movie is good (perhaps too good...) and totally essential. It's like the way the Alien franchise had to be a franchise for its thematic progression to finally pay off. Ben Stiller is basically a working class man's version of Ripley, a hero whose monster is very real and impossible to placate: father-in-law from hell Jack Byrnes (Robert Deniro).

Universal Studios displayed an incredible level of commitment to Jay Roach's original characters by deciding to stick it out with Greg and totally flesh out his world totally. First we meet his fiance's parents, seemingly the most terrifying meeting of his life, in Meet the Parents. Then his parents have to meet her parents in Meet the Fockers. Both of these events are landmarks in his life but what comes after their conclusion? Life, that's all, or to be more specific: the continuity of the family's future in the form of children. With warmth and wisdom and intelligence--and a little welcome potty humor for the folks at home that like to enjoy their movies--Little Fockers is a generous and very funny bookend and a fitting conclusion to a truly great treatise on modern families in America.

In Little Fockers, Greg has a world of responsibility put on him and it's all related in terms of hyper-real archetypes that should be painfully familiar to any viewer. Greg is faced with every family man's responsibility, all at once. He has to make sure his twins' birthday party goes off without a hitch, weigh the moral implications of selling a product he does not endorse vs. the much-needed money it could provide his family, avoid temptation, fend off Kevin (Owen Wilson), the other man in his wife's life, fend off the wiles of a young, nubile Jezebel named Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba) and then deal with Jack.

Jack embodies any number of Oedipal fears that screenwriter  John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey were smart enough to finesse using a lot of goofy, genial humor that often takes surreal and daring turns, as in the ball pit fight at the end. Jack is transformed into the shark from Jaws in this scene, a brilliant literal iteration of our understanding of the father-in-law as monster image that runs throughout the movie. Jack must control everything, even who will have control over his family after he's gone. That too is expressed shrewdly in another take on classic Hollywood cinema: to be the man Jack wants him to be, Greg must become the Godfocker. He fears he can't do it, of course, and transfers that performance anxiety back onto Jack during a painfully funny scene where he stabs Jack's penis with a syringe full of adrenaline. If you're too prudish to laugh at that joke, I suggest you stop reading now because I've probably already lost you. Who is the joke on if we can't laugh long and hard at our own little foibles? A constipated Focker like Greg.

And boy, can I take a moment to praise some of the other great libidinal twists Greg's neuroses take in Little Fockers? Because, let's fact it: only lazy critics will see this film and see a film series that underestimates its audience's intelligence. Ha! In reality, the filmmakers behind Little Fockers give their audience enough credit to laugh at something as knotty as the perpetual male fear of being emasculated by a temptress like Alba's Andi. And that's wonderfully expressed in the scene where she tries to get Greg drunk and then takes performance enhancement pills. We never see her erection but we don't need to to get the joke: Greg doesn't want to be taken advantage of. By the time she later dredges herself up out of the pit in Greg's new backyard, covered in dirt and eager to see Greg's father's flamenco moves, she has been soundly put back in her place. It's a macho fear expressed and neutralized in ways that Judd Apatow could only dream of expressing so well!

And the actors' comic timing--so masterful. The shouting match between Harvey Keitel and Deniro was especially impressive, the former man putting all of his acting skills into his hips and jowls, practically foreshadowing the unfortunate dump truck-related incident soon to come. Stiller and Deniro lead a master class in funny, delivering their best work in years together. Which in many ways makes sense because their roles were tailor-made for the actors. Everything is in its place in this adept comedy of manners and that's a rare and funny thing, indeed.

2) Mumbai Diaries (2010)

2) Mumbai Diaries (2010) Dir: Kiran Rao Date Released: January 2011 Date Seen: January 5, 2011 Rating: 3.25/5

Not essential viewing but the start of something interesting, certainly. See my review for the Village Voice.

1) The Housemaid (1960)

1) The Housemaid (1960) Dir: Kim Ki-Young Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 3, 2011 Rating: 4/5

The first new film of 2011. See my piece for the New York Press.

427) The Jerk (1979)

427) The Jerk (1979) Dir: Rob Reiner Date Released: December 1979 Date Seen: December 30, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

My favorite Steve Martin vehicle. Side-splittingly funny. Not much else to add because this really just disarmed me. Love it.

426) The Tourist (2010)

426) The Tourist (2010) Dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: December 29, 2010 Rating: 1/5

Awful through and through. See my review for the New York Press.

425) Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

425) Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) Dir: Max Ophuls Date Released: April 1948 Date Seen: December 28, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

Kind of a dry run for Lola Montes, but hey, it's Ophuls, right? See my piece for the New York Press.

423) Something Evil (1972) and 424) Duel (1971)

423) Something Evil (1972) Dir: Steven Spielberg Date Released (TV): January 1972 Date Seen: December 27, 2010 Rating: 2.25/5

424) Duel (1971) Dir: Steven Spielberg Date Released (TV): November 1971 Date Seen: December 27, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

Spielberg masculin feminin. See my piece for the New York Press.

422) Police Academy (1984)

422) Police Academy (1984) Dir: Hugh Wilson Date Released: March 1984 Date Seen: December 24, 2010 Rating: 2.75/5

This might be the only comedy series where jumping the shark was the best thing to happen to it. This first film is just kinda bland, a dopey attempt at recapturing the comedy magic of Meatballs and Stripes (Boy, Ivan Reitman was good, wasn't he? Or maybe just consistently lucky? Take your pick.). But hey, ain't no Christmas Eve party like a Police Academy party, right?

421) Blue Valentine (2010)

421) Blue Valentine (2010) Dir: Derek Cianfrance Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: December 24, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

I remember liking this a lil more than I do now. But not much more. See my review for Wide Screen, which is adjacent to a piece I did on The Strange Case of Angelica.

RV!: Tron (1982), and 417) Tron: Legacy (2010)

RV!: Tron (1982) Dir: Steven Lisberger Date Released: July 1982 Date Seen: December 19, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

417) Tron: Legacy (2010) Dir: Joseph Kosinski Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: December 20, 2010 Rating: 4/5

I don't care what you say: these movies are pretty (wait for it) interesting. See my piece for the New York Press.

415) Gilda (1946), 416) Cover Girl (1944), 418) Tonight and Every Night (1945), 419) Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) and 420) Salome (1953)

415) Gilda (1946) Dir: Charles Vidor Date Released: March 1946 Date Seen: December 19, 2010 Rating: 4/5

416) Cover Girl (1944) Dir: Charles Vidor Date Released: March 1944 Date Seen: December 19, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

418) Tonight and Every Night (1945) Dir: Victor Saville Date Released: January 1945 Date Seen: December 21, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

419) Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) Dir: Curtis Bernhardt Date Released: December 1953 Date Seen: December 21, 2010 Rating: 3/5

420) Salome (1953) Dir: William Dieterle Date Released: March 1953 Date Seen: December 23, 2010 Rating: 2/5

Rita! Is bewitching. See my review of the recent Rita Hayworth DVD box set over at Slant Magazine.

412) Gremlins (1984), RV!: JIngle All the Way (1996), 413) Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) and 414) Santa Claus (1959)

412) Gremlins (1984) Dir: Joe Dante Date Released: June 1984 Date Seen: December 17, 2010 Rating: 4/5

RV!: Jingle All the Way (1996) Dir: Brian Levant Date Released: November 1996 Date Seen: December 17, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

413) Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) Dir: Lee Harry Date Released: April 1987 Date Seen: December 18, 2010 Rating: 0.5/5

414) Santa Claus (1959) Dir: Rene Cardona Date Released: October 1960 Date Seen: December 18, 2010 Rating: 0.75/5

My ratings for these films are really arbitrary (as if you couldn't figure that one out already). I enjoy Jingle All the Way too much to see its faults. And while I got a big kick out of both Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 and Santa Claus, they are fundamentally incompetent films. See my Christmas movie round-up for the New York Press.

411) Edge of Darkness (2010)

411) Edge of Darkness (2010) Dir: Martin Campbell Date Released: January 2010 Date Seen: December 16, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

This. This was the movie that made me realize I'm a Martin Campbell-ite. See my review for the New York Press.

410) Straight to Hell Returns (2010)

410) Straight to Hell Returns (2010) Dir: Alex Cox Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: December 15, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

Very silly but very fun. See my DVD review for Slant Magazine.

409) Careful (1992)

409) Careful (1992) Dir: Guy Maddin Date Released: August 1993 Date Seen: December 14, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

Probably tied with Brand Upon the Brain! and The Saddest Music in the World as my favorite feature by Maddin. See my piece on the "Quintessential Guy Maddin" box set. See my piece for the New York Press.

408) Yogi Bear (2010)

408) Yogi Bear (2010) Dir: Eric Brevig Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: December 14, 2010 Rating: 1.75/5

Not as bad as I wanted it to be. Which is a good thing in a bad way, I guess. See my review for Slant Magazine.

404) Head (1968), 405) Five Easy Pieces (1970), 406) Drive, He Said (1971) and 407) The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)

404) Head (1968) Dir: Bob Rafelson Date Released: November 1968 Date Seen: December 12, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

405) Five Easy Pieces (1970) Dir: Bob Rafelson Date Released: September 1970 Date Seen: December 13, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

406) Drive, He Said (1971) Dir: Jack Nicholson Date Released: June 1971 Date Seen: December 13, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

407) The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) Dir: Bob Rafelson Date Released: October 1972 Date Seen: 3.25/5

The Rafelson/Nicholson power hour. See my piece on Criterion's BBS box set for Slant Magazine. I really like how this piece came out.

401) In a Glass Cage (1987) and 402) Moon Child (1989)

401) In a Glass Cage (1987) Dir: Agusti Vigalondo Date Released: March 1989 Date Seen: December 8, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

402) Moon Child (1989) Dir: Agusti Vigalondo Date Released: Not Yet Released Date Seen: December 9, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

I remember preferring Moon Child at the time but now, I think they're both about equal. See my piece on Vigalondo's style at the New York Press.