Just as Sugary, and Just as Full of Empty Calories

“My Blueberry Nights,” Kar Wai Wong newest movie, arrives on DVD Tuesday.

"My Blueberry Nights" (2008) - After she discovers her boyfriend is having an affair, a young woman explores the American landscape.

“My Blueberry Nights” premiered at Cannes in 2007 as a nominee of the prestigious Palme d’Or award. In competition with films like “Persepolis,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “Zodiac,” the movie lost to “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days.” Amidst all these wonderful films, Wong’s new work managed to get mixed reviews. I don’t know how it managed to get positive quotes from critics.

Many of Wong’s films have been praised by critics, especially “Chungking Express,” but I’ve only managed to watch “In the Mood for Love,” and an artist who is capable of making a movie as patient and beautiful as “In the Mood for Love” has no excuse for making a movie as lazy–and, dare I say, pointless?–as “My Blueberry Nights.”

Take Two: “Sweeney Todd” (2007)

"Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (2007) - A wrongly-imprisoned barber goes insane and seeks revenge from the people who put him behind bars and took away his family.

Just re-watched Tim Burton’s version of “Sweeney Todd,” and I didn’t like it nearly as much as I did when I saw it at the end of last year. I suppose it’s because it’s nearly impossible for hype to have an effect on my opinion six months later.

A Personal Baptism

After reading Armond White’s wonderful essay (“What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Movies”) and the first chapter of “The Art of Fiction” — John Gardner’s classic writing book — I’ve started anew with the movies.

About a month ago, I was surfing Netflix, and I read the contents of a small box in the corner of the recommendations page: according to my ratings, I’ve seen over 1600 movies. I don’t think it’s a high number of movies for someone to see in 20 years of their life, but 1600 movies do add up to a lot of hours (about 3200, or about four and a half months). The number sounded ridiculous to me, and as I paged through my ratings, I saw that I had rated movies that I hadn’t seen since my first year of high school (and even before that). I’m only 20, yes, but even though I’m not much older than a high-school senior, a lot of growth takes place during high school and college. I view movies much much differently than I did even as a college freshman. I remember being bored by Bergman in high school, and now I can’t imagine film without his touch. And I’ve been exerpiencing similar growth in the past semester.

The Best Movie of 2007

I know everyone is calling it crap and pretentious, but I loved it. I can admit, it’s arty, it’s pretentious, it’s pure. I feel like I could describe the films of Robert Bresson or Federico Fellini or Michael Haneke with any of these adjectives, but does that make them bad movies? Some, maybe. I’d be cautious recommending any of their movies to the Average Joe Movie Buff, though, because each of these directors’ films are employed with their trademark styles. If you can’t sink you’re teeth into the films instantly or don’t have an idea what the movies are about, you’re a goner. Which would explain why I had such a difficult time with movies like Lancelot du Lac or 8 1/2 when I first saw them in my teens.

A couple weeks ago, Youth Without Youth only played in town for a week (even though it was released in America at the end of last year), so I only got the chance to see it once. I’d love to see it again, though. I loved the way Coppola chose to express his feelings on memory, love, and vitality in abstract terms, considering he is dealing with abstract notions. So far, seeing this was the film event of the year–at least in a city like New Orleans, which doesn’t get much in the way of limited releases in the theater.

I can’t write an in-depth review of the film anytime in the near future, and even if I could, I really don’t want to say too much. Just see the movie! Youth Without Youth may be in a theater near you, but if it’s not (or if it’s about to leave your local cineplex), it’s coming to DVD next month.

Any thoughts from anyone who’s seen it? I know I can’t be the only one who liked it. Ari from The Aspect Ratio put it #10 on his Top Ten of 2007 list, so I don’t feel too left out. His “review,” although brief, is spot-on.

Street Kings Doesn’t Reign

What should I focus on about Street Kings:  the weak performances from solid actors, the messy screenplay or the film’s lack of morality? Whatever, because in the end, all roads lead to the conclusion that Street Kings is a movie you won’t mind missing.