DJG's CINEMADHESIVE

CJ7 * * * * *
Directed by: Stephen Chow / 2008

This movie is AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME! I think this is Stephen Chow's best work to date. What a gifted creator and it's almost a crime that it was pretty much overlooked last year and more than likely will be overlooked on DVD. "CJ7" is Chow's "E.T." I want to own this ASAP. I can't recommend this enough! -djg

Excited for Lars von Trier's "Antichrist"

"Antichrist", the new anticipated film by master Lars von Trier comes out this year. The trailer is fantastic and so are these stills: One. Two. Three. Be careful with that last one...but, wowie-zowie this movie looks all sorts of amazing and almost like a Trier version of David Lynch...maybe. The trailer plays it up in the horror market, but honestly I have no idea what to expect other than it's gonna be good 'n' plenty in the visual and thought department. Would we expect anything less? -djg

DJG's CINEMADHESIVE

Citizen Kane * * * * *
Directed by: Orson Welles / 1941

There isn’t any need for me to repeat as others have a million times over with the brilliance and mastery of “Citizen Kane”. I’ll simply say that it’s an impressive feat of filmmaking (though maybe I was expecting a little more…blame it on the hype?), one I need to digest for more than three and a half hours, as I rushed to work right after it ended. Right now I’m just pondering if Orson Welles eventually embodied his Charles Foster Kane as he peaked early to world-acclaim by making one of the great, influential films at the age of 24. What did I make at 24!? It took me half that amount of age just to see his movie. It was worth the wait and I’m a little sad in some ways. Not seeing “Citizen Kane” was kind of my own movie watching “Rosebud” (and darn-it whomever film friend jerkily told me the answer to the mystery! Not cool!).

It was a high school history class where I first heard this classic movie mentioned, from my teacher. My young mind simply shrugging it off into the “Old Black & White” movie pile as I had Terminators, Jedi Masters, Col. John Matrix, Bruce Campbell, Ren & Stimpy and Monty Pythons to watch…over and over and over (and I still do). A few years later in a university history class it was said in swift passing after discussing William Randolph Hearst that a “Citizen Kane” viewing and report was worth some extra credit. I could tell by the professor’s blushed enthusiasm that she wanted to switch historical gears and talk cinema for the next three hours. I chewed on the initiative of “awesome easy credit that I don’t really have time for” until the weekend, only to find that more than likely classmates had beaten me to Blockbuster (this was before Netflix). I think I ended up meandering into the Action or Comedy aisle that Friday night and of course a date with a bag of Doritos, cheese dip and Reese’s Pieces. I gained five extra credit points that night, the so-called “Freshman 5”.

The past 8 or 9 years, as my movie window has widened, I’ve had some chances to see “Citizen Kane”. And this time last year I was really interested in finally marking it off the list as I was informed via a PBS documentary on Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz that he watched the film some 40 times, finding great connection and inspiration from it. Seeing it make the top of the American Film Institute list even furthered my curiosity. I passed purchasing the film cheap on a whim-before-watching a few times, something that I’ve stopped doing the past couple of years, buying before viewing. Well, that is until I was at Costco a few weekends ago and with tax refund money in hand. The sticker said, “$8.00” on the special edition DVDs for several cinema classics. I instantly snatched up a couple that I had on my “Must Purchase” list. Titles included “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” And then I picked up “Citizen Kane”, thought for a second and put it at the top of my pile, a confident Kane-like Costco citizen.

Last year I said that 2009 would be the year for me to watch “Citizen Kane”. The hype has been building for so long that it was probably for the best that I put off seeing it until now, plus I wanted to devour more film to get ready. This morning I finally hit PLAY and was fully absorbed…and rewarded. I don’t want, rather I NEED, to see this one and over and over and over. I can’t wait. -djg

DJG's CINEMADHESIVE

The Cats of Mirikitani * * * * *
Directed by: Linda Hattendorf / 2006

He may have been without home, but 80-year-old artist Jimmy Mirikitani wasn’t bothered a bit. He’d been in worse situations. As long as he had some paper and something to draw cats and memories of life in American-ran Japanese internment camp, he was happy. And he was humble and extremely confident, all in one brush stroke. He didn’t ask of much. He didn’t complain about much, other than a deep bitterness towards what “stupid American government” did to him and his family by forcing them to live for years at Tule Lake prison camp and also a reminder of dropping a bomb on his boyhood home of Hiroshima. Other than that Jimmy loved America, and besides he was born here, in Sacramento, California. All bitterness aside, he just wanted to draw and tell his stories and "Make art, not war". Even on September 11, 2001, when every other New Yorker was looking up into the dark shadows of The Twin Towers, Mirikitani was looking down, crouched at his paper held in place by water bottles on a park table, working diligently on another self-proclaimed “masterpiece”. Linda Hattendorf befriended Jimmy months earlier, checking in on the neighborhood artist, hard at work on his paintings. If it wasn’t for her generosity he may have died in the harmful fallout of the ash and dust in the weeks that followed 9-11. Under grace and patience Hattendorf gave Jimmy a corner of her apartment for many months to paint his masterpieces. In that time as caretaker she also helped unveil a piece of his past that put him in the state he was in. And in order to get his life back in order, even well into the twilight years, Jimmy needed to revisit the past further than just in his paintings. “The Cats of Mirikitani” is one of the reasons why we need cinema and reflects on the immediacy of the documentary as pure art. This movie is extremely touching, heartfelt and a fine tribute to not only its subject, it’s unearthing of a true master talent, but also September 11, 2001 and those that lived, suffered and died in the American-ran Japanese internment camps of World War II. I was inspired beyond measure and wonder how many more Jimmy Mirikitanis there are wandering the streets that need our help. See this movie. -djg

DJG / Warming-up to Ramin Bahrani

Chop Shop * * * *
Directed by: Ramin Bahrani / 2007

The name Ramin Bahrani has been receiving a lot of praise in movie circles the past few years. Roger Ebert even dedicated a whole writing to him recently called “The New Great American Director”. It cites, “After three films, each a master work, he has established himself as a gifted, confident filmmaker with ideas that involve who and where we are at this time.” I’m not so easily convinced. I understand what Ebert is saying yet find myself appreciating what Bahrani is doing, more than actually liking his films. But, I’m starting to warm up. I’ve only seen two out of three and see something special brewing in a similar way David Gordon Green’s first few movies affected me. However, I’m not prompted to re-watch Bahrani’s work over and over, as I am Green’s, at least not quite yet.

“Chop Shop” features a brother and sister (Ale and Isamar) who can’t be much more than 13 and 16. Each has certainly seen, experienced and worked harder in their young years than I in twice the time. These kids are tough and street smart. They can also count money and do math better than me. Neither are they shy. And I believe in them on screen. I believe in them off screen. I refuse to believe that they are actors. On screen I assume they are orphans even though nothing, that I recall, is mentioned of their past or parents. I also assume they are immigrants, or at least their parents immigrated to America at one time. Their dialog/language is unique English to where I needed subtitled just to get it quickly straightened. They live together in a makeshift room in the upstairs of an auto body repair shop they also work at. The shop is housed in a grimy, crowded strip of many likeminded shops in the murky shadows of Shea Stadium (where baseball’s Mets called home until this year) in what seems to be the wastelands of Queens, New York. These are the kind of shops and people that most of us would be scared or at least intimidated to deal business with. A lot of the shops specialize in “shady”, after-hours business, stripping stolen cars for cash (aka: “chop shops”) The shop that Ale works at and Isamar vends food near seems like a legitimate enterprise, whose owner is stern but seemingly fair, putting a lot of trust and faith to give them keys to the shop and a place to live. He seems to pay them decent, as well as teaching skills to the trade. It’s an odd relationship as it seems like a no questions asked kind of thing. And these kids are surprisingly grown-up, ambitious and responsible, though there are flashes of child-like play and naivete, resulting in some of the film’s best moments. We aren’t told Ale and Isamar’s past, yet we’re told their future, or at least their dream. This is to make enough cash ($4,500) in order to purchase a dilapidated vending truck, the key to brighten their lives and a possible path to honest earnings/decent living. But, sometimes money is money, no matter your approach to getting it and always the bonds of blood run thick.

A year ago I became intrigued by Bahrani’s acclaimed “Man Push Cart”, a movie that hinted at some great things, in a “Taxi Driver” sort of way, but ultimately left me wanting more movie. It was a good story, but I was more wowed of the great difficulty the film must have been to make, especially for a first feature. I enjoyed Bahrani’s second feature “Chop Shop” a little more, but again was left a bit stumped and thirsting for more movie. It ended very abrupt to me, yet I can’t think of a better way to end it. Although I was left wanting more, I can’t stop thinking about it and am now thinking about “Man Push Cart” again. And I think that is Bahrani’s intent and strength. He gives just enough to let you chew-on and carry-over what’s on screen to that place where the characters live and breathe in the mind, out of the frame. That is the sign of a great artist at work. Though, here I’m coming back for more of the movie in my mind, and after this rekindling, I’m interested in a second viewing of each. Bahrani’s characters seem to be real people in real situations. And I’m curious at his writing approach and more importantly his relationships and life. Are these people, situations and circumstances he knows or has spent time around, even in simple observation? What makes him tick? On an artistic level, what film voices does he admire? So far his characters I’ve been involved have been immigrant Americans working hard, all-hours, seemingly bottom rung jobs and facing even harsher, complicated hours off the clock. I don’t necessarily relate to them, maybe in a working man way? But, it’s the little things in-between that are shining through to me. Something important that Bahrani is doing is paying attention, which causes me to pay attention, even after the fact. More young directors need to take note, so do audiences. Actually, people in general life need to. I think this is where his voice is really shining and where he has my interest. Paying attention is his “style”. Instead of tricking the audience or letting us fall prey to cliché, over-indulgence, awkward, arty-farty, forced or flashy filmmaking and falsely swelled emotions, he’s opening us up with eyes and soul. Ramin Bahrani is speaking with fluent honesty. It’s a uniquely-familiar de-layering process that he has conjured up and surprisingly fresh and foreign. Evidence in my poor writing…I can’t really explain it. Hmmmmmmm. I have now talked myself into getting to know Bahrani a little better and coming to realize the importance of the work he is showing me. I look forward to watching his third film “Goodbye Solo”. I look forward to watching myself grow with him. -djg

DJG's Movie Morning Monday / I've Loved You So Long * * * *

DJG's Weekend Watcher

Firefly * * * * *
Directed by: Joss Whedon / 2002-2003

Like with “Freaks & Geeks”, I get sad every time I begin and end the short-lived television series “Firefly”. Joss Whedon’s brilliant space western was culturally-criminally treated like crap as it didn’t even get one full season. At least it spawned the movie “Serenity”, but fans are still left with so many what-might-have-beens with these lovable and complex characters and their unique space storytelling in a somewhat oddly believable future. See it. See it. See it.

High Fidelity * * * * *
Directed by: Stephen Frears / 2000

Saturday was National Record Store Day and I watched “High Fidelity” for the umpteenth time. It’s in my all-time top 5 films and holds a special spot in-tune with my heart. And like a great song, the movie resonates even more as time passes.









I Love You, Man * * * ½
Directed by: John Hamburg / 2009

My second helping of “I Love You, Man” was even better as I got to share it with the buddy I’ll be playing Best Man to soon. Which is the main subject for this fantastically funny and fresh comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. It’s been quite a surprising comedy year so far with this one and “Adventureland.”








Battlestar Galactica: Mini-Series * * * *
Created by: Ronald D. Moore / Directed by: Michael Rymer / 2003

Everybody and their alien have been telling me to watch “Battlestar” for a few years now. We finally got to the 3 hour mini-series that re-started the franchise that began back in the late ‘70s. It’s always exciting yet intimidating to start a new and lengthy television series. I’m honestly not quite sure what makes the mini-series so good, other than it just IS and wrapped with all the familiarities of favorite sci-fi and space whatnots. I now look forward to seeing characters and stories develop and a bunch more stuff gettin’ blown up in space.

Stripes * * ½
Directed by: Ivan Reitman / 1981

I used to clear a room with, “I’ve never seen STRIPES.” Now, I’ll clear a room with, “I think STRIPES is overrated.” I think the idea of, “Let’s send a jerk Bill Murray to the ARMY!” looks great on paper, but for some reason “Stripes” doesn’t translate to the movies for me. My wife and I tend to feel the same way about 95% of the roles that Will Ferrell takes. And I’m very perplexed with “Stripes” as Ivan Reitman is behind the camera of Bill Murray, Harold Ramis (who also wrote), John Candy and other funny men. Is it too dated? I don’t even think it’s that. Perhaps if I’d grown up with it, like everybody else I know, it would mean more to me? I doubt it.




Munich * * * * *
Directed by: Steven Spielberg / 2005

How in the heck did “Crash” win the 2005 Academy Award for Best Picture? Four years later I’m thinking “Crash” who? “Munich” is genius direction and cinematography meets bold storytelling, a story inspired by the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympic terrorist attack. Steven Spielberg doesn’t hold back the bold punches in this recent masterpiece that he refers to as “historical fiction”. I find it fascinating and ferocious film genius that I wish to own.