click to enlarge REDBELT (May 2nd – limited)   written and directed by David Mamet rated ‘R'/runtime – 99 min /2008 trailer

Whether or not you care for his style, the one thing you can't deny about David Mamet is his refusal to abide by the Hollywood rules. In fact, he's perhaps the purest storyteller the medium has today. His philosophy is that film should attempt to remain as objective as possible.  Each scene should be shot to drive the story forward and get a certain point across. A director should avoid following certain characters closer than others (other than what the plot requires), and not dwell on beatific cinematography. (If you want to read more about this, he's written a very well-known tome called On Directing Film.)

One could argue (and I do) with this philosophy becoming a universal approach. After all, film is primarily a visual medium, and if filmmakers such as Bergman, Fellini or Kubrick had adhered to a Mamet-like philosophy, we would be starved of some of the most amazing images ever committed to celluloid. But what Mamet is rebelling against is the empty 'pretty picture' approach to filmmaking which has pervaded movies since the '80s. Once auteurs like Scorsese, Coppola, and De Palma had become all the rage in the U.S., other filmmakers and cinematographers learned to ape their styles. The problem with this was soon evident: similar style, no substance. What we've been left with, now, are big-budget pictures that look nice but have no inherent meaning or artistry.

One can see (particularly in the 2nd trailer) for Redbelt, Mamet's philosophy at work: everything's incredibly straightforward and visually clear...it's purely the story that's supposed to draw you in. Whether the story is interesting or not...that's up to you.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – House of Games
2nd – Glengarry Glen Ross
3rd – The Spanish Prisoner

NOISE (May 2nd – limited) click to enlarge   written and directed by Henry Bean rated ‘R'/runtime – 88 min /2007 trailer

I've been anxiously awaiting Henry Bean's follow-up to 2002's The Believer, still the most assured début I've seen from a director in my years as a cinephile. But this new film, Noise, looks nothing like The Believer. Whereas that film was starkly realistic, a gut-shot treatise on identity, religion, and self-loathing, this new film seems to have transitioned Bean into the role of parable spinner. We have a situation akin to Bulworth or Dr. Strangelove, wherein one man takes the matters of a world that doesn't make sense into his own hands; in Bulworth, it's a breath of fresh air to hear a politician actually spouting truths, whereas in Strangelove, we're dealing with a madman who blames his impotence on a Communist conspiracy. With Noise, Bean is painting the portrait of a man (Tim Robbins) who loves New York but can't stand all the noise emanating from it. He embarks on a crusade to fix this growing problem, gathering followers as his methods become more and more extreme.

To me, the most impressive part is the risk Bean is taking by tackling a new genre. It's usually the sign of a great filmmaker when s/he ventures out of his/her comfort zone, and refuses to merely repeat the successes of prior work. This all depends, of course, on if they do it well.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – The Believer
2nd – Bob Roberts
3rd – Network

Each region of the world is at different stages of exploring film. Much of Western Europe—especially richer countries like France and Britain—have been making 'Hollywood' pictures for years. The smaller films that manage to make the jump across the pond are akin to the indie style of the U.S.. The best Mexican filmmakers have started cracking into bigger-budget Hollywood fare, as well. And Asian films have been focusing on the horror and schlock genres, or their old genre stand-bys, martial arts and yakuza. (This isn't a blanket statement by any means. There are great filmmakers in these countries and regions, but the overwhelming majority are starting to acquiesce to the business side of filmmaking...and it shows.)

That's why, as a film buff, the regions that are just beginning to pay real attention to cinema are becoming the most interesting. This includes the Middle East (in particular, Israel and Iran), Africa, and distinctly, northern Europe—the Nordic countries. It's no secret that my favorite modern filmmaker, Lars von Trier, hails from Denmark, but ever since the Dogme 95 movement began, this area has seen its film recognition skyrocket. Six of the past eight years, the region has had a film nominated for Best Foreign Film. Now, another well-received film is coming out and, yes, the last name is Trier. But this is Joachim Trier...and while he IS a very distant cousin of Lars, they apparently aren't in close contact. If the advanced buzz on the film is any indication, though, filmmaking talent just might run in the family.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Italian for Beginners
2nd – The Celebration
3rd – The Boss of It All

STUCK (May 30th – limited) click to enlarge   story by Stuart Gordon written by John Strysik directed by Stuart Gordon not rated/runtime – 94 min /2007

Stuart Gordon didn't really impress me with his well known cult-classic Re-Animator; it's a bizarre and only somewhat entertaining horror film. However, he's really come of age in recent years. It started when I saw the first season of 'Masters of Horror' on Showtime, and caught his episode 'Dreams in the Witch-House'. It's one of the few adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft that actually manages to capture the bizarre, unexplainable, and nightmarish hallucinations of that visionary horror writer. And if doing Lovecraft well wasn't enough, he really convinced me with his second season episode, 'The Black Cat'—a unique and visceral approach to Edgar Allan Poe's classic story. Since Poe is one of my favorite authors, adapting him correctly earned Gordon very high marks in my book.

When I caught his adaptation of Mamet's one-act play 'Edmond', I could see that his skills and storytelling interests were evolving. Now, I have a love-hate relationship with 'Edmond'. I love Mamet, but the first time I read that play, I thought it was atrociously simple-minded. My playwriting professor urged me to read it again, and to read it with an eye attuned to how fast the story evolves. As I read it a second time, then a third, I soon grew to appreciate the economy of Mamet's story technique, but I still had some major issues with the thematics. Certain scenes would really resonate with me, while others still seemed too pared down. I felt unfulfilled at the end, and it's a strange feeling...usually whenever you read or watch something, one way or the other, it's over when you're done with it, good or bad. 'Edmond' felt incomplete, like it had more to do or say. But I digress...

Gordon's Edmond helped put some of those feelings to rest. William H. Macy brought aboard some of the depth of character I was missing, and Gordon's simple yet noir-ish style helped added an atmosphere to the piece that I'm sure it lacks on the stage. It became the third straight adaptation that left me with even further confidence in Gordon's skills. He is now on my list of directors who gets an automatic appointment when his next film comes out and, with Stuck arriving at the end of May, I'm hoping to see yet another strong outing from the re-vitalized cult director.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Edmond
2nd – Masters of Horror: The Black Cat
3rd – The Sweet Hereafter

If you don't know of Harlan Ellison, some might consider you lucky. Ellison is a science fiction writer and screenwriter, considered one of the most cantankerous and abrasive personalities to ever be involved in the industry. One of his own books even describes him, on its jacket, as 'possibly the most contentious person on Earth'.

But it's this personality that drives his writing—writing which has earned numerous awards for his short fiction and novellas, acclaim for his work on the classic sci-fi television series 'The Outer Limits', and much attention for his controversial episode of the original 'Star Trek', which many consider the best of the entire series. Few also know that his two episodes from 'The Outer Limits' served as the inspiration for James Cameron's The Terminator, something that Ellison successfully sued over. If you read the synopses of both episodes (http://www.scifi.com/outerlimits/episodes/classic/season2/01soldier.html, http://www.scifi.com/outerlimits/episodes/classic/season2/05demonwith.html), you may never look at The Terminator films the same way again.

His combative nature aside, Ellison is widely respected by many in the science fiction field, even if begrudgingly so. He, along with Bradbury and Vonnegut, is at the peak of the genre, infusing it with radical thoughts, social commentary, and much-needed depth. Finally, we'll have a chance to see the man, himself, in action, and look back on a titan of the genre.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever
2nd – Slaughterhouse-Five
3rd – A Boy and His Dog

MONGOL (June 6th – limited) click to enlarge   written by Arif Aliyev and Sergei Bodrov directed by Sergei Bodrov rated ‘R'/runtime – 120 min /2007 trailer

If the Nordic countries are leading the charge in the foreign film department, Russian filmmakers aren't too far behind. They've also had quite a few films nominated for Oscars in the past several years, and produced a close rival to The Believer for most incredible directorial début, The Return.

Now comes Mongol (which is classified as part-Russian, even though it was Kazakhstan's official entry into the Oscars), a semi-biographical tale of Genghis Khan. It received six trophies at Russia's Nika Awards, and has been building a reputation of being more beautiful and bigger in scope than some of the biggest Tinseltown blockbusters. It arrives just in time to be lost among them during the summer rush (hmmm...coincidence?), but one never knows what the box office has in store.

From the sound of it, Mongol has a lot in common with Germany's Downfall, from 2004. It's the humanization of a ruthless tyrant, and a way to see past the historical generalities that often ignore the very arresting details behind some of history's most notorious figures.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – The Return
2nd – Russian Ark
3rd – Downfall

click to enlarge ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (June 11th – limited)   directed by Werner Herzog rated ‘PG'/runtime – tbd /2007

June could easily be the month of larger-than-life personalities, as Werner Herzog's latest is the third I'm recommending for June. There are plenty of examples of his work in the recommended section below (though he just appears in Loch Ness, it's an intensely curious little film), but suffice it to say that Herzog almost always dreams the impossible (often like his characters), and somehow manages to accomplish a bit of it, too.

Encounters is him and a camera operator traveling to Antarctica and filming the desolate continent and its people. One would assume with a crew so small, the result would be a middling TV-style documentary (not everything can be "Planet Earth"), but from the reports at film festivals, it's breathtaking to behold. And the people have stories and personalities to match. If it has even an ounce of the substance of Herzog's last documentary, Grizzly Man, it'll be a joy to watch while everyone else is suffering through The Incredible Hulk or The Happening.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Little Dieter Needs to Fly
2nd – Incident at Loch Ness
3rd – Grizzly Man

WALL*E (June 27th) click to enlarge   written and directed by Andrew Stanton rated ‘G'/runtime – tbd /2008 trailer

Here's our first 'Hollywood' recommendation for the summer—and I doubt anyone will question it. Pixar has earned many points and almost every cinema goer's trust. The luster that may have worn off with Cars was re-applied with Ratatouille, and the trailer for WALL*E just added another must-see to the list of nearly everyone I speak to.

The aspect I'm most anticipating? The rumor is that the first 10-15 minutes are WALL*E completely alone on Earth. No other character in sight. If this is true, and Stanton's writing pulls it off, Pixar just added yet another huge plus in my column. To move away from the gigantic big-name star, exotic cameo style that animated films are rushing towards is a huge breath of fresh air. And if that wasn't enough of a risk, there is much less dialogue in the film, as the main characters are all robots. Choices, I'm sure, that would never work for most studios. But Pixar isn't 'most studios'.

I'll leave you with a great quote from studio chief, John Lasseter: "The art of animation is about what the character does, not what it says. It all depends on how you tell the story, whether it has a lot of dialogue or not."

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Short Circuit
2nd – The Iron Giant
3rd – Monsters, Inc.

There will never be anyone like Hunter S. Thompson. You only need to read any of his works (not just Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) to realize this. He is, like many subjects involved in this summer's films, an utterly unique and important personality. 

I must confess that I've never been able to actually finish Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as its drug-induced madness makes my well-trained mind become more than a little fried. It's almost as if I'm getting a contact high just from reading his prose. I suppose that's a testament to how well it's written, but I just can't finish it.

I have been able to finish Gilliam's film, though, which also has the same effect on me, albeit only for a couple of hours. I think it must be one of the only true portraits of what a continuous drug trip is actually like. We've all seen the now-cliché scenes of 'drug mania' in films like Midnight Cowboy, but this one looks, feels, even smells, authentic. It's a film that somehow manages to engage all of my senses.

I'm very curious to see how Gibney, who directed the straightforward but compelling Enron documentary from a couple years ago, handles the fireball that was Thompson's life and journalistic style. It screams for someone with a visual sense as acute as Terry Gilliam's or Errol Morris'. But Gibney is an emerging talent, and his most recent, Taxi to the Dark Side, won Best Documentary at this year's Oscars. It'll be interesting to see if Gonzo can reveal yet another side of his filmmaking prowess.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
2nd – Where the Buffalo Roam
3rd – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

LOU REED - BERLIN (July 18th – limited) click to enlarge   directed by Julian Schnabel rated ‘PG-13'/runtime – 85 min /2007 trailer

Concert films, for me, are often redundant exercises in band and audience tug-of-war. First, we see close-ups of the band. Then, we see close-ups of the audience. Each is in love with the other. Band revels in their music, winks at the camera and/or an adoring fan, said fan looks like they've just died and gone to heaven. Repeat. For 90 to 120 minutes.

Maybe my apathy for the concert film has more to do with the utter mediocrity of the artists that I've seen in them.  Scorsese's Shine a Light, from earlier this year was fun, but the best parts were the interstitials of the Rolling Stones being interviewed when they were younger. It helped give the whole thing context, and made watching these 60-year-old rockers much more interesting.

With Lou Reed - Berlin, however, we're dealing with an entirely different animal. 'Berlin' is a concept album the legendary singer-songwriter (who began his career with the Velvet Underground) originally released in 1973. It's been referred to as a tragic rock opera, whose main characters endure the darkest sides of life in Berlin. As so many great works endure, it was not well-received upon its initial release. But in December of 2006, Reed fulfilled a 33-year-old dream of putting 'Berlin' up as a performance at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. Julian Schnabel, a neo-expressionist artist and director of last year's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, designed the stage for the performance, and filmed it as well. 

This is that performance, and I can honestly say it's one of the few concert films you'll ever see me truly excited to see.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Basquiat
2nd – 'The Blues'
3rd – Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart

click to enlarge THE DARK KNIGHT (July 18th)   story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan directed by Christopher Nolan rated ‘PG-13'/runtime – tbd /2008 trailer

Here it is, our second major Hollywood release being recommended. Although, as with WALL*E, I almost feel like my counsel on this one means basically nothing. If you liked Batman Begins, you're seeing this movie, there's no two ways about it. And if you didn't like it, then chances are this one won't do anything for you, either. I've awaited it since the tease of an ending in Begins, and I'm already anticipating the final piece (Christopher Nolan envisioned this re-boot of Batman as a trilogy with one long, evolving story).

The almost-final performance of Heath Ledger (the final curtain will come in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus next year) will most likely be as incredible as it appears in the various trailers. As many have and will continue to point out, this was a young man nearing the peak of his career. We may discover that I'm Not There., The Dark Knight, and Doctor Parnassus represent the apex of a James Dean-like career, where we lost a talent only just beginning to share its best qualities.

Recommended Viewing:

1st – Batman Begins
2nd – Batman: Gotham Knight
3rd – Batman: The Animated Series'

RELIGULOUS (July 11th – limited) click to enlarge   directed by Larry Charles rating & runtime – tbd/2008 trailer

I close with this film, out of release order (unlike the rest of the column), for a very particular reason. It won't be seen by many people just because of its title and subject matter, yet it speaks to an evolving social phenomenon: More and more people are honestly admitting a doubt or flat-out disbelief in God. In 2005, more than 10% of the world had no religious belief or spirituality and, for me, that number is shocking. I never realized so many people had the bravery to defy family traditions, social pressures, and thousands of years of religious legacy.

I classify myself as an agnostic. I don't know. I can't know, until it's over. There's too much unexplained in the world, in the universe...and to think I, or someone else, on this small dot of a planet knows the ultimate answer....well, I find that a little presumptuous. I never judge nor think less of someone else for believing in an answer (whatever religion claims to have it), but I do often find myself laughing along with the comedic rantings of Bill Maher and George Carlin. These two avowed atheists present some of the very same thoughts which crossed my mind during 18 years of Catholic upbringing—pure logical questions that seem to fly in the face of religious dogma.

So, this summer, the director of Borat (this should give you a clue what type of film you're in for...) follows the infamous Bill Maher as he examines modern-day religion, and asks the tougher questions about a subject that many feel is taboo. Will he poke fun at people?  Yes. But the reason to see this movie isn't for the humor, it's for the rationale: Does religion actually have all the answers it claims to?

Recommended Viewing:

1st – 'Real Time with Bill Maher'
2nd – Bill Maher: I'm Swiss
3rd – Borat

•••

On this (hopefully not too controversial) note, I wish you all a good summer. And if I may make one final recommendation...

During May and June, I will be making a web-series for IFC (the Independent Film Channel) with a colleague of mine, Steve Sprinkles. It's called Pushing Twilight; I'll be writing, he'll be directing. A couple of months ago, we filmed a pilot for a contest they co-sponsored with Red Bull and that you now can see on IFC's Web site, and we were chosen by IFC and Red Bull as the best in that contest, earning a production deal. (As you watch, if you find yourself saying, "Wow, that's a great score", it's not only because it is, but also because it was written by your very own Patsy Moore and Maria "Myrrh" Hobbs.)

By sometime in mid-July, you'll be able to start viewing our new episodes on a weekly basis through the remainder of the summer. Just find your way back to IFC.com every week, and you can have six-minutes of 'After Hours'-themed enjoyment at our expense!

It's going to be an exciting ride, and I'd love to hear what any and all of you constant readers think of my other writing (good, bad or indifferent!). So, don't hesitate to drop your thoughts in an eMail.

Until August...happy movie-going!