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My movie year (so far)

Another installment of "What I watched in 2006." I liked 'em all this time!

1) Factotum (2005), starring Matt Dillon and directed by Bent Hamer. This is based on the novel by Charles Bukowski and was filmed in Minneapolis. I wrote a little something about it yesterday for City Pages' group blog, Culture To Go, and you can read it here.

2) Grizzly Man (2005), directed by Werner Herzog. I'm a Herzog admirer from way back, but I confess I've seen practically nothing he's made in the last ten years. My fault, not his, and this film is enough to now make me want to watch everything else he's done. So much has been written about this documentary about the guy who lived with bears for 13 years (before one ate him) that I have little to add, except that, somehow, Herzog made me care about a guy I couldn't stand. Imagine Kato Kaelin frolicking with wild bears, and you have the title character, Timothy Treadwell. Herzog gives plenty of screentime to disapproving voices, like the park helicopter pilot who knew the grizzly man: "I think he was mentally retarded or somethin'. He treated these bears like they were people in bear suits. He got what he deserved, in my opinion." Great movie. (Roger Ebert wrote one of his best reviews about this film-- read it here.

3) The Man with Nine Lives (1940), starring Boris Karloff. Watching Boris in prime Mad Doctor mode, pouring frothing liquids from one beaker into another, I realized that everything I know about science I learned from these movies. This one's a splendid joker-show, with Karloff presiding over a frozen vault, where he kills people and then brings them back to life, so he can kill them. It was stuff like this as much as Frankenstein that made me a fan, and this was a blast to watch.

4) The Story of Menstruation (1946), produced by Walt Disney Pictures. This is how the public schools taught Grandma the rules of the rag. It's Disney animation at its blandest, which means that it's still beautifully-done. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and predict that it may be the most lovable film anyone will ever do on its subject.

Aww . . . it's Baby's first period!

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 30, 2006 11:26 PM

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