January 2008 Reviews

So this is the new year
and I don't feel any different.
--Death Cab for Cutie,
"The New Year" (2003)

Reviews and assignments I'm working on this month.

Amazon DVDs: War & Peace [five-disc set] (the Beeb version with Sir Anthony Hopkins), Erik the Viking (with Tim Robbins), With a Song in My Heart: The Jane Froman Story (with the incomparable Susan Hayward), Canvas (with Marcia Gay Harden and Joe Pantoliano), Desires of a Housewife (with Sharon Stone and Timothy Hutton), Eagle vs Shark, Kurt Cobain: About a Son (for my SIFF review of the latter, click here), and To Kill a King.

Amazon Theatricals: Teeth (psycho-sexual horror), The Counterfeiters (based on the book by Adolf Burger), Grace
Is Gone (domestic drama with John Cusack), and U2 3D.

Still playing: The Orphanage and Starting Out in the Evening.

Northwest Film Forum: Panel participant in "Filmmaker's
Saloon: Critics Critiqued," a panel discussion and socializing
event for the local film community (Tues., 2/19, at 8pm).

The media have been full of stories questioning the relevance of print critics in an Internet era that has ushered in a new democratization of opinion.

The prospect of babbling blogmeisters being the new kingpins of cinema has left many critics in a sour mood. This quarter our film saloon will round up a group of critics from print, television, radio, and of course, the blogosphere to ask them whether they think their role in entertainment is significant. We'll examine how criticism impacts the viewer, the state of art, and the opinions of other critics, and, if these critics are losing importance, what does one do about it?

Seatle Sound: Best of local film feature in the current issue.

Seattle Film Blog: Elliptic and Unbridled: The Early Films of
Béla Tarr [above right] and Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski; 

featuring music from Can and Cat Stevens). And in case
you missed it, here's a link to my 2007 top 30 film list.

Steadycam: Submitted my 2007 top 10 film list.

Endnote: "The New Year" comes from 2003's Transatlanti-
cism. Béla Tarr images (1982's Prefab People and directorial
portrait) from the Northwest Film Forum. For more informa-
tion about their early Tarr retro (1/8-30), please click here.