I spent more time outside and out of town this month, and not just in bars, so I had less time to watch DVD's. But I still got my money's worth out of my Netflix subscription.

Owning Mahowny (2003)
Yet another film in which Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays either a loser or a creep to a perfect degree. In this case, he plays a loser with a gambling problem from Toronto who works in a bank and embezzles funds to gamble in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. It's set in the early 80's and he and his girlfriend, played by Minnie Driver, have giant glasses and ugly clothes. As far as I can tell, it was filmed in 1980, actually. I think one of Hoffman's brilliant touches as an actor is that you can hear him breathing through his nose rather heavily the entire film. What a perfect loser!

The Office: Series 1 (2001)
Hey, this show is funny! I usually don't subscribe to the often put forth doctrine that British people are funny. Really, they are just clever. But more often they are just indecipherable. But The Office is a riot. Now, it does have a bit more refinement than your average American sitcom. Like Arrested Development (currently the funniest show on American television) it has no laugh track. I love shows that give the audience credit enough to figure out what is funny. Anyhow, this show is a mockumentary format set in a random British office. The boss, played by the actual write/director, is the most tedious kind of person. The guy thinks he's very funny and caring and so forth, but is really just obnoxious and emotionally needy. Always talking about how he's the best boss around. We've all met these kinds of people, and here it is played perfectly with an obvious grasp of the infinite subtle nuances of annoyance these types of people inhabit. Also, there is very funny bickering between two relatively young co-workers, one a rather dim former soldier, the other a complete smart-ass.

Henry & June (1990)
OK, so I've heard about this movie for years. So I watched it. It was long and filled with French accents, but did have a lot of doin' it in it. It wasn't bad, but I also don't think it's the great work of art it's often purported to be.

Waking Life (2001)
This is an animated indie film. An interesting concept. It's directed by Richard Linkletter, who has some impressive films to his credit, including Slackers and Dazed and Confused. This film is absolutely brilliantly animated, though it is a bit of an avante garde style. It reminds me of what Dr. Katz would have been on a larger budget and run through computers who went to art school at the Sorbonne. At first, I though this film was just pretty picture. I found the dialogue to be pretentious and trite, initially. Then I realized what the point of the film was- the story of a guy who can't wake up. In my defense, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention at first.

Elephant (2003)
The more films I watch by Gus Van Sant the more I think he is all style and no substance. A perfect example of this is Gerry, which is really just an exercise in cinematography. Like that film, Elephant features many long shots that don't contribute much to the story, though can add some tone. But Van Sant tends to add so much to tone, that the story can get completely lost. This isn't the case here entirely, though the film does seem to lack resolution. But with this film, I think it's fine. Elephant is a story of school violence, obviously inspired by Columbine. Van Sant presents a series of interwoven tales that intersect one another and culminate in a vicious shooting spree. Van Sant portrays teenagers in their natural environment behaving as teenagers do- irrationally. These kids don't really appear to be actors, it's shot that well. Over all, I liked this film a lot, though I do often find Van Sant's shots to be overly drawn out for the sake of themselves.

Grateful Dawg (2000)
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman playin' bluegrass. Filmed by Grisman's daughter. If you like bluegrass, this very enjoyable. Great music. Otherwise, you might just see these guys as the same kind of goofy white people with an overly intellectualized fascination with bluegrass that are portrayed in "A Mighty Wind". I mean, I like bluegrass a lot AND I listen to NPR, but some of these upper middle class pipe smoking banjo pickers are just too weird for me to deal with. Are they crazy, or what?

Crumb (1994)
Disturbing. If you ever want to feel good about yourself, watch this movie. Still, it's interesting anyhow, if you have an appreciation for underground comics, people with retarded sexual identities, and complete antisocial behavior. In R. Crumb's family, he's the normal guy. That's fucking scary.

Solaris (2002)
I was in the mood for sci-fi that wasn't predictable not too long ago. I order this up, and it totally hit the spot. It's directed very effectively by Steven Soderbergh and stars George Clooney. The gyst of the story is that Clooney goes up to some space station around some planet called Solaris in the indeterminate future. The space station crew is freaking out. Basically, they are being visited by their memories. In Clooney's case, it's his dead wife. The story is actually a rather interesting one. And Clooney does a great job dealing with a difficult character. I'm starting to think this guy might actually be a decent actor, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Crash (1996)
This film has absolutely nothing to do with my recent auto wreck. I swear. I'm more inclined to make out with a car itself, not crash it to get all mangled and horny. So the next topless Audi TT I encounter doesn't have to worry, I'll be gentle.

13 Conversations About One Thing (2002)
I meant to see this when it came out a while back. As usual, my instincts are correct. This is a very enjoyable film to watch. It's very much about real life. It's a series of interwoven vignettes that don't tell a story so much as recall a small series of incidents from varying points of view. Mostly, it's about how everybody gets screwed in the end, but it's portrayed in a very recognizable, "yeah, I've been there" kind of way. Definitely worth watch if just to watch Alan Arkin's flawless bitter sarcasm.

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