Although visually arresting, I thought Tarsem Singh’s THE CELL was inuman, inhumane, and tawdry. THE FALL is also visually gorgeous. It’s also clever, imaginative, and touching.
All in Quirky
Mamoru Oshii's “THE SKY CRAWLERS”
Wonderfully animated, this moody anime adventure combines elements of 1984 (perpetual warfare), Blade Runner (androids with fuzzy memories), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (alternate history and retro-futuristic aircraft), and Dark City (constant recycling of character experiences and events).
Alex Proyas' “DARK CITY”
This is what I wrote in my blog when, once upon a time in Indiana, I found myself working late at night with the TV turned on:
This is a sweet comedy that doesn’t, for the most part, descend into mawkishness or treacle.
What a delightfully twisted little film this is! What could have been a run-of-the-mill mystery is pumped up immensely by clever dialog, crisp editing and direction, and most of all, by terrific performances by Kevin Costner and William Hurt.
Powell & Pressburger's A CANTERBURY TALE
I admit to being somewhat of an Anglophile, so I was prepared to like A Canterbury Tale as delivered by the crisply produced Criterion DVD.
MirrorMask
These are the words I would use to describe this gorgeous-to-look-at film:
Higuchinsky's UZUMAKI
Things in this town are so weird that we cannot take it seriously, yet they are familiar enough to generate a sense of foreboding.
What a refreshing film this is! It's unlike any kids' movie I've ever seen.
Jim Jarmusch's “MYSTERY TRAIN”
This 1989 movie tells three stories about people in Memphis whose lives almost intersect based on their staying one night in the same seedy hotel. The first story is about a young Japanese couple, visiting Memphis by train, who are paying homage to the roots of rock and roll. The young woman reveres Elvis while the young man reveres Carl Perkins.
Katsuhiro Ôtomo's “STEAMBOY”
At the end of Steamboy the credits roll over a series of detailed pictures that project the main characters of the movie into the future. We see Ray Steam’s inventions unfold even further, and they include flight and airplanes. And we see Scarlett defiantly staring into the camera as well as she shares Ray’s future.
Lucky McKee's MAY
So don't just expect blood and guts with this movie. There's serious well-made weirdness going on here.
Lynn Hershman-Leeson's TEKNOLUST
This movie is like a breath of fresh air. The story is original, the acting is uniformly engaging, the dialog is witty, and it looks cheap in all the right places. It’s an in-your-face-reminder that you don’t need a bezillion dollars to create something fresh, entertaining, and original.
I Heart Huckabees
I'm a big fan of "quirky" movies, but this one didn't tickle my funnybone. Nor did it make me pause and think.
By all rights it should have, given the wonderful cast. I mean, Isabelle Huppert and Tippi Hedren in the same film -- what could be more sublime?
Sue Brooks’ “Japanese Story”
Toni Colette (About a Boy) shines in this fishes-out-of water story.
Guy Maddin's THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
This is my first Maddin film. What first came to mind as I was watching it, trying to figure out what to compare it to, was "This looks like what the residents of Nightmare Before Christmas's Halloween Town would have dreamed up had someone asked them to create a sensitive comedy about human sadness."
George Plympton's MUTANT ALIENS
I saw this on the Sundance channel, so I didn’t get a chance to see any DVD extras. Still, that’s quite enough. As a great fan of animation I love Plympton’s quirky, jiggly style, and his lewd, schoolboy humor sometimes transcends its frequently sophomoric origins. (Really, how many visual representations of an erection can you think of?)