Shorts, fests, etc, 9/24.

"A good critic is someone who not only has a gift for fashioning an impressionable sentence or phrase, but also the depth and breadth of experience as a viewer to approximately assess a new film's standing by using an internal historical slide rule that runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous," writes Tim Lucas. "I really don't care how many John Ford movies a critic has seen; it tells me more if he or she knows as much about the lower registi on the keyboard. It tells me even more if their idea of the lower register is my idea of the middle register. Even Dante had to visit the many levels of his Inferno before he could lend language to his Paradiso."

"Everyone has an agenda when it comes to reviewing movies." Darragh McManus presents a guide to several reviewers who "don't just admit they have an agenda, they positively scream it out."

Also at the Guardian, Ben Child notes that The Godfather tops Empire's readers poll of the "500 Greatest Movies of All Time."

"I thought I'd share some thoughts about two of my favorite Japanese monster movies made in 1968, 100 Monsters aka Yôkai hyaku monogatari and Yokai Monsters - Spook Warfare aka Yôkai daisensô." Kimberly Lindbergs: "Both films were released the same year and a third Yokai Monster film called Yokai Monsters - Along With Ghosts aka Tôkaidô obake dôchû was later released in 1969. All three films make up an extremely entertaining trilogy of fantasy films based on Japanese folklore and legends."

Max Goldberg presents a "five-point look at Kino21's five-part war doc series, How We Fight: Conscripts, Mercenaries, Terrorists, and Peacekeepers." Through November 23.

Also in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Dennis Harvey previews Psychotic and Erotic: Rare Films by Tinto Brass, running tonight and Sunday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The AV Club presents its "Second Annual Guide To The Fall Prestige Movies," parts 1 and 2. Related: The New York Observer's "Fall Preview 2008."

"In each episode of the mammoth 'Best Pictures From the Outside In' project, Mike (Goatdog's Movies), Nick (Nick's Flick Picks) and I have been viewing two Oscar winners, one from either end of the Academy's 80 years timeline, moving forwards and backwards simultaneously," writes Nathaniel R. "Today's double feature happens to star two very famous and prolific writers. On our trip forward we hit 1937's The Life of Emile Zola, a biopic cum courtroom drama set in France where Zola continually rocked the boat with controversial novels and politically crusading letters. On our trip backwards in Oscar time we've reached 1998's Shakespeare in Love, a romantic comedy cum theatrical love letter set in England when Shakespeare was making his name."

"Audiences at the time thought of them simply as bad girls, but the UCLA Film & Television Archive is determined to salvage their reputations." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times: "The archive's exceptionally interesting 12-film repertory series Cool Drinks of Water: Columbia's Noir Girls of the 40s and 50s shows that making their acquaintance is a pleasure for lots of reasons." Through October 26.

At Hollywood Bitchslap, Jason Whyte previews the Vancouver International Film Festival, opening tomorrow and running through October 10.

Andy Horbal rounds up goings on in Pittsburgh.

"This century, Ho'wood has traded in the cars for human flesh," writes Steven Boone at the SpoutBlog. "Now we watch people crash, burn and fall apart like flimsy chassis, still trying to pull something exhilarating out of something we can't fathom. The emphasis on 'improve, prosper, perfect' is all that matters, Americans."

For Filmmaker, Nick Dawson talks with Matt Wolf, director of Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, "bout his distinctive documentary approach, his plan to eat his way through Queens, and working in a gay coffee shop run by heroin addicts."

"The amazing truth about Queen Raquela is that she's constructed from clichés, infected by media-borne dictates of insipid faggotry that have, unfortunately, circled the globe and made near-insufferable creatures out of too many queers," writes Ernest Hardy, reviewing, of course, The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela. "The not-quite-amazing truth about this 'documentary' is that it's actually mildly engrossing, building to a final-act clash between First and Third worlds that is riveting and highly uncomfortable to watch."

Also in the Voice:

• Aaron Hillis on Shoot on Sight: "Named for the London police's secretive 'Operation Kratos' anti-terrorist tactics, which led to the wrongful killing of Brazilian national Jean Charles de Menezes just after the July 7, 2005, tube bombings, director Jag Mundhra's suspense(-less) drama oversimplifies the controversy by fictionalizing the victim into an innocent Muslim citizen." Also, Unspooled: "What could've been a poignantly humbling portrait of passionate young hopefuls confronting the harsh, masochistic realities of filmmaking is instead a whiny, woe-is-us postmortem."

• Ella Taylor on Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story: "Just about everyone interviewed for Stefan Forbes's fascinating documentary about Lee Atwater - whether Democrat or Republican pols, African-American bluesmen or hardened reporters - ends anecdotes about the Republican strategist's dirty tricks with a titter that's either nervous or ambivalently appreciative."

• Tim Grierson: "Nights in Rodanthe works so strenuously to satisfy its target audience's every desire that it's a minor surprise that the filmmakers didn't provide cashmere blankets, a snuggly pair of slippers, and a warm cup of cocoa for everyone entering the theater." More from Alonso Duralde at MSNBC.

• Michelle Orange: "Several ordinarily banal movies soldered into one amazingly bad one, Ripple Effect cannot be excused on the grounds of overweening ambition; its every contorted plot line and distended page of dialogue belie an averageness that glazes the cornea on contact."

• Nick Pinkerton on Forever Strong: "It should come as no surprise to find that this paean to clean living, which might have been co-scripted by Carrie Nation, was brought to you by the Salt Lake City film industry. Should play well to church groups and niche sports enthusiasts waiting on the great life-affirming film about curling."

Mike Everleth has the lineup for Saturday's New Haven Underground Film Festival.

The WSWS' David Walsh talks with Chus Gutiérrez about Return to Hansala. Also: More from Toronto.

Steve Dollar talks with Lance Hammer about Ballast for the New York Sun.

Ben Simington in the Auteurs' Notebook on the latest from Dario Argento: "'[D]espite flaws in The Mother of Tears, we are lucky to still bear witness to a maestro of horror who unmistakably thinks about perception of the world cinematically."

"Italian director Florestano Vancini, whose first film [Lunga Notte del '43] in 1960 won a Venice festival award, has died in Rome. He was 82." The AP reports. Via Movie City News.

The Film Panel Notetaker was all over Independent Film Week.

Online listening tip. Quite a party going on at the House Next Door.

Online viewing tip. Movies for the Masses interviews Panos Koutras and Joe Swanberg at the Athens International Film Festival, running through Sunday.

Online viewing tips. Eliza rounds up some "Great New Videos" for the CR Blog.

Posted by dwhudson at September 24, 2008 11:44 AM