Jun-Dai and Lucía on Apple TV/iTunes at 30 Central, in the evening of 7 August 2010.

Jun-Dai:
Wtf?

Jun-Dai and Lucía on 35 mm at Clearview’s Port Washington Cinemas, at 22:20 on 24 July 2010.

This is more of an Andy film than a Snee film.

Jun-Dai and Lucía on DVD at 30 Central, in the evening of 24 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
A pretty worthless remake of the Cukor film. For one thing, everyone spoke much too slowly. But in general, there didn’t seem to be any ear for crisp dialogue, and the film was so caught up in the heartwarming discovery of self-worth that it made me yearn for the original film, with Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford, the likes of which Hollywood has not seen since.

Jun-Dai, Lucía, Elizabeth, and John on DVD at 30 Central, in the evening of 18 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
The circle is not round.

Jun-Dai and Lucía on 35 mm at Clearview’s Port Washington Cinemas, at 22:10 on 16 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
Nice to see Christopher Nolan going back to Memento-like attempts at innovative storytelling and thought-provoking speculative fiction. Not that Dark Knight was at all bad, but I don’t think it was as much his film—it was the result of a lot of good Batman writing and a brilliant performance from Heath Ledger.

In the long tradition of is this reality? films: eXistenZ, The Matrix—closely related to the I’m in my imagination/memory films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, etc.), the are these my memories? films (Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Moon, Memento, etc.), and the I’m inside the game/computer films (Tron, The Lawnmower Man).

Jun-Dai and Lucía on DVD at 30 Central, over the evenings of 14 and 15 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
Very Bresson. Anti-acting, which at times seems soulless, but adds up to a world that is quite emotional and desperate. The ending in particular sort of forced a rethinking of the film. A 14-year-old, unable to connect with anything, denied everything, pushed if not into adulthood then into a world of adults, finds escape in a childish way.

Jun-Dai and Lucía on DVD at 30 Central, in the evening of 13 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
This film reminded me of The Awful Truth quite a bit. A separated couple trying to undo one another’s romantic interests. The woman finds a simple, gentle, wealthy Southerner, and the man finds some way to prove to her that she could never truly survive such a lack of sophistication and old-fashioned attitudes towards women.

It was also interesting to compare the film to the modern version.

Jun-Dai and Lucía on DVD at 30 Central, in the evening of 12 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
I fell asleep for the middle third of the film. From what I did see: it was at times interesting, but for the most part felt very plodding, and the acting was kind of stilted and strange (it reminded me of Northfork). It felt very much like whole passages were being recited out of a book, where the dialogue was meant to carry an emotional weight that can only really be conveyed in written word.

Jun-Dai and Lucía on DVD at 30 Central, even later in the evening evening on 11 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
Very peculiar, for Hitchcock. Much more explicit than I’d expected. The murder scene was as lurid and chaotic as the famous Psycho shower scene was artful and painstakingly crafted.

Partly I suspect the movie was just an excuse for Hitchcock to film the dinner scenes between Chief Inspector Oxford and his wife.

Jun-Dai and Lucía on DVD at 30 Central in the late evening on 11 July 2010.

Jun-Dai:
A slow, thoughtful crime film starring one of my favorite actors (Robert Mitchum). Boston in fall — very pretty. Not as slow as, say, The Hit, but the film had a lot of nice long takes that let the performances come out, particularly Mitchum’s.