Wild Target - Jonathan Lynn (2010)

Funny movie that could have been better.

Still, it's more than worth your time.

Here's my video review.

"Incendies" - Denis Villeneuve (2011)

I watched "Incendies" a couple of weeks ago and was just torn apart by it.

The film opens this Friday in Kansas City and everybody needs to see it.

This film is devastating and brilliant.

It's the story of a brother and sister who are each given an envelope when their mother dies.

One is a letter to a brother neither of them knew existed and the other is for their father who they both thought was dead.

The story unwraps at a perfect pace as Jeanne and Simon head to the Middle East to solve the mysteries they've been handed.

This is how their mother's story is told and it unfolds with brutality.


Revenge, war, violence and sadism don't just mark the landscape of the region, they marked this woman's life.

The plot has a couple twists, but they aren't just there for the sake of having a twist.

I'm afraid to say much more except see this when it opens this weekend.

"Incendies" wasn't the best film nominated for Best Foreign Language at the Oscars this year. That distinction still goes to "Dogtooth."

But it's pretty damn brilliant.

Von Trier's Cast Stands Behind Their Filmmaker (sort of)

Okay, let me explain. No, there is no time. Let me sum up.

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier was kicked out of Cannes earlier this week for saying that he found pleasure in the fact that he was “really a Nazi.”
Not only that, but the distribution company decided to bail on him because of the controversy.

So, the cast was asked about the whole mess.

When asked if she would work with Lars von Trier again after his incendiary remarks at the press conference for “Melancholia” at Cannes, Kirsten Dunst said, "Yes, I would work with him, yeah.” But she qualified her endorsement of the filmmaker, saying, “It's unfortunate that he joked about that, it is very inappropriate."



But Stellan Skarsgard, who worked with von Trier in “Breaking the Waves,” threw all his support behind his director. "He can say anything, but what you always have to consider is the thought and meaning behind the words, not the words themselves and everybody knows he is not a Nazi, he was a Jew for 33 years,” Skarsgard argued. “It's absolutely ridiculous and it's embarrassing for the Cannes Film Festival that they behave like this."

Von Trier Uproar

Hey folks, it's been a while.

I've more or less neglected all of my online personas to catch up on sleep for the past month.

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier has been kicked out of the Cannes film festival for saying that he found pleasure in the fact that he was “really a Nazi.”

"Melancholia" is still in the competition for prizes, which will be handed out at a closing ceremony Sunday.

Von Trier said afterward he had been joking and apologized.

The best part is Kirsten Dunst’s reaction as he’s making the comments.

Cracks - Jordan Scott (2011)

Yes, I know "Cracks" made its debut at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival yet my title says "2011."

I've been going by U.S. Theatrical release dates. I decided to just pick a standard for the dates I use and stick with it for consistency's sake. So for the record, when there's a disparity between my dates and imdb.com's, that's why. It occurred to me that I have never explained that.

At any rate, "Cracks" was released in New York and L.A. on March 18, so it should be making its way here to Kansas City for a short run at some point this spring.

It has gotten mediocre reviews, but I thought it was a brilliant character study of a woman unable to tell narcissism from love.


If that sounds pretentious, there's a reason why the word "Snob" is in my title.

Here's my video review.

My Dog Tulip – Paul and Sandra Fierlinger (2010)

"My Dog Tulip" Photo Courtesy: New Yorker Films

“My Dog Tulip” is a milestone in animation. It is the first paperless, hand-drawn animated feature ever.

Of course that wouldn’t count for much if the movie wasn’t very good, but I’ll get to the analysis of the film’s content itself shortly.

Paul Fierlinger drew the film onto a digital tablet, using a stylus and Sandra Fierlinger filled in the images perfectly. She seems to know just the right colors to capture the right moods and just how much detail to use without giving too much away. They used a program called “TVPaint.”

Photo Courtesy: New Yorker Films

“Tulip” is based on J. R. Ackerley’s memoirs of how he finally found true friendship late in his life when he got his first dog, Tulip. Ackerley is voiced by Christopher Plummer.

I have not read the book in more than 10 years, but I remember laughing out loud a lot and as I watched the film, I kept remembering bits of the book I’d forgotten.

The film, like the book, is pretentious, funny and literate. So naturally, your Resident Film Snob loved it to pieces.

Ackerley whittles the most complex human emotions and experiences down into the basest of animal urges and what he comes out with in his book, is a remarkably wise record, not only of anecdotes, but proverbs.

For example, in the midst of his meditations on Tulip’s bathroom habits, Ackerley takes her through a cemetery. He seems to think the dead should be grateful that his dog is blessing them by using their resting place as a place to unleash her bowels.

After all, they ought to be grateful to be serving any purpose at all, shouldn’t they?

Tulip diddles on the dead. Photo Courtesy: New Yorker Films

The film’s style could not possibly fit the spirit of the book better. Paul and Sandra Fierlinger don’t draw “Tulip” with the realistic detail the Pixar generation has come to expect. After all, if it’s going to look so gall-darn realistic, why bother animating it? (That’s right, I said “gall-darn.” You’ll just have to pardon my French.)

Animation style dips several times into what the author sketched as he imagined his dog and sister home alone together. These sequences are simple doodles on paper.

Notice how, for some reason, as minimalist as his “style” is, he still takes the time to draw boobs on his sister. It’s either endearing or creepy. I guess it can be both. Hey, the guy wrote “The Prisoners of War,” so I’m not going to get all bent out of shape.

Photo Courtesy: New Yorker Films

And what he projects of human sexuality onto dogs is hysterical and emphasized through this simple doodling that he does, more than it ever could through more sophisticated animated effects.

This is important, since roughly half the movie involves Ackerley trying to get his beloved dog laid.

Photo Courtesy: New Yorker Films

Again, he goes about exploring sexuality by simplifying it through the eyes of his dog and again, the stripped down animated style is perfect here. It’s equally adorable and disconcerting how Tulip is drawn in a dress, like a lady of the night.

Photo Courtesy: New Yorker Films

It’s touching how he marvels at the way Tulip allows a very small dog to hump her even though Ackerley clearly thinks Tulip is far out of the mutt’s league.

Please don’t make the mistake of trying to watch this with your kids. “My Dog Tulip” is a wonderful cartoon for adults.

This film will be showing here in Kansas City at the Tivoli for at least another few days, so you really need to catch it while you can.

If you miss it, put it in your Netflix queue pronto.

My Dog Tulip – Paul and Sandra Fierlinger (2010)

Midwest Association of Professional Animators: My Dog Tulip – Paul and Sandra Fierlinger (2010): "'My Dog Tulip' Photo Courtesy: New Yorker Films “My Dog Tulip” is a milestone in animation. It is the first paperless, hand-drawn animate..."