Horror Thoughts ‘15—House (1977) ***½

NR, 88 min.

Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi

Writers: Chiho Katsura, Chigumi Ôbayashi (original story)

Starring: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ohba, Ai Matsubara, Mieko Satô, Eriko Tanaka, Masayo Miyako, Kiyohiko Ozaki, Saho Sasazawa, Asei Kobayashi

Have you ever seen one of those Japanese variety shows where you are wondering just what the heck is going on? Well, the 1977 cult horror film “House” comes from the same mindset. In it you will witness a floating head attack a friend, a piano eat its player, a girl who loves to clean killed by linens, a man turn into a pile of bananas, a woman taking a bath attacked by hair, an old woman who likes to hang out in the broken refrigerator, and a skeleton dancing in the background of many scenes without any explanation. But, even that list of absurdities fails to do the movie justice. It is one that must be witnessed to be believed.

Ebert Thoughts ‘15—Ida (2014) ****

PG-13, 82 min.

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Writers: Pawel Pawlikowski, Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Starring: Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza, Dawid Ogrodnik, Jerzy TrelaAdam Szyszkowski, Halina Skoczynska

So, I’ve reviewed this film before. It’s easy to concentrate on the central character here, Anna, the nun who discovers she’s a Jew just before she takes her vows. This time I’d like to concentrate a little more on Wanda, her aunt. Wanda is a very interesting woman. This is the 1960s, and Wanda appears to be a fairly powerful woman as a state prosecutor. Wanda has as much of a journey to take as Anna here. It is Wanda who takes them on their search to find Anna’s parent’s graves. Of course, that journey leads to the revelation of a dark family secret, a secret Wanda must be very aware Anna will discover.

Ebert Thoughts ‘15—Goodbye To Language (2014) **

UR, 70 min.

Director/Writer: Jean-Luc Godard

Starring: Héloïse Godet, Kamel Abdeli, Richard Chevallier, Zoé Bruneau, Christian Gregori

I recently reviewed Jean-Luc Godard’s 1967 film “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her”. It’s easy to see with that film the track that had started in Godard’s career and would eventually lead him to a film like “Goodbye To Language”. While his less narrative, more documentary style worked well with the freer thinking of the late 60s, his cinematic philosophizing has become as confused as the world itself today. While there might be some value to be weighed into that notion, the consumption of it leaves something to be desired.

Criterion Thoughts—2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967) ***

NR, 87 min.

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Writers: Jean-Luc Godard, Catherine Vimenet (based on the articles “La Prostitution dans les grands ensembles”)

Starring: Marina Vlady, Roger Montsoret, Anny Duperey, Joseph Gehrard, Raoul Lévy, Jean Narboni

I’ll admit it. Even being the cineaste I am, there are some gaping holes in my cinematic experience. Jean-Luc Godard is one of them. I’m not completely unknowledgeable. I’ve seen “Breathless” and his strange and somewhat annoying version of science fiction “Alphaville”. I fear I reveal myself by declaring “Alphaville” annoying, but at times it is surely trying to be. So this will be a rather inexperienced look at a man who is seen as one of the masters of cinema.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Ida (2014) ****

PG-13, 82 min.

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Writers: Pawel Pawlikowski, Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Starring: Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza, Dawid Ogrodnik

If you haven’t heard of the Polish film “Ida”, then you will if you pay any attention to the Foreign Film categories at the Golden Globes and Oscars. Considering how well it did on almost every top ten list at the end of this year, it will most likely take home the golden statues from them. It deserves the attention it’s getting. It is one of those simple, beautiful films that allow you appreciate life for what it is while reflecting on its greatest horrors.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Me and My Moulton (2014) ****

NR, 14 min.

Director/Writer: Torill Kove

Narrator: Andrea Bræn Hovig

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences narrowed its list of possible nominees for Best Animated Short Film to 10 about a month ago. This category that is usually a key to winning the Oscar pool. The reason is that it is often difficult for the general public to see the nominees before the awards ceremony without going to a special art house screening of all the nominees.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Snowpiercer (2014) ***½

R, 126 min.

Director: Joon-ho Bong

Writers: Joon-ho Bong, Kelly Masterson, Jacques Lob (graphic novel “Le Transperceniege”), Benjamin Legrand (graphic novel “Le Transperceneige”), Jean-Marc Rochette (graphic novel “Le Transperceneige”)

Starring: Chris Evans, Kang-ho Song, Ah-sung Ko, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Ewen Bremner, Ed Harris, Allison Pill, Luke Pasqualino, Vlad Ivanov, Adnan Haskovic

So, it’s the future. The world has been thrown into a frozen state following an ill-conceived solution to global warming. The only survivors of the human race have been living on a supersonic train that traverses the planet once very year. The train is sectioned off into social orders with the poorest passengers stationed at the back of the train, eating protein bars provided by the train’s administrators, while the upper class citizens live in luxury in the train’s front cars. The back passengers plan a revolt to gain control of the train.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Under the Skin (2014) ***½

R, 108 min.

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Writers: Walter Campbell, Jonathan Glazer, Michel Faber (novel)

Starring: Scarlett Johansson

“Under the Skin” is one of those cerebral sci-fi flicks that leave the majority of viewers cold. It’s meant to. I’m sure many people will go into this film expecting something like Scarlett Johansson’s recent “Lucy”. After seeing this bleak film set with the backdrop of a beautiful but bleak Scotland winterscape, many will wonder what they just saw. Some will complain that it was slow and depressing and that nothing happens. This opening paragraph is for those people who will feel that way. You can stop reading now.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Welcome to Sweden, season 1 (2014) ***

TV-14, 10 21-min. episodes

Creator: Greg Poehler

Director: Carl Åstrand

Writers: Greg Poehler, Josephine Bornebusch, Niclas Carlsson, Peter Arrhenius, Jesper Harrie, Martin Soneby

Starring: Greg Poehler, Josephine Bornebusch, Lena Olin, Claes Månsson, Christopher Wagelin

Guest starring: Per Svensson, Amy Poehler, Basim Sabah Albasim, Will Ferrell, Aubrey Plaza, Madeleine Martin, Hanna Ahlström, Claudia Galli, Illeana Douglas, Patrick Duffy, Björn Ulvaeus, Björn Ranelid, Marques Ray, Malin Åkerman, Gustav Roth, Pam Murphy, Matt Oberg

When I was about 10, my family hosted an exchange student from Sweden. It was like having an alien coming to live with you. Well, it was for a ten-year-old. He was tall, devastatingly handsome. He played futball. He had no idea how to play football. He listened to strange music (Pink Floyd). He smelled funny (cologne). And, by the time he left some nine months later, he was a member of the family. He attended my wedding. He’s held an open invitation for any of us to visit him in Sweden. Like the fools we are, we’ve never made good on this. Perhaps now I will.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Ernest & Celestine (2014) ****

PG, 80 min.

Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner

Writers: Daniel Pennac, Gabrielle Vincent (book)

Voices: Forest Whitaker, Mackenzie Foy, Lauren Bacall, Paul Giamatti, William H. Macy, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Jeffery Wright

Here’s a word of advice. When you see the list of Oscar nominees for best animated feature each year, find the movie you’ve never heard of on it and that will be one of the best movies you’ve ever seen. Perhaps this year’s nominees aren’t the best exampl, because “Frozen” was the winner and in many ways deserved it. Also nominated this year was Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises”, so far unseen by me, but undoubtedly filled with his signature genius. With the fantastic French-Belgian anime “Ernest & Celestine”, this year brought three amazing candidates for the sometimes pointless prize.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965) *½

G, 93 min.

Director: Ishirô Honda

Writer: Shin’ichi Sekizawa

Starring: Nick Adams, Akira Takarada, Jun Tazaki, Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Keiko Sawai, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kenzô Tabu

In the opening credit sequence it’s called simply “Monster Zero”. On the IMDb website it’s called “Invasion of the Astro-Monster”. Whatever it’s called 1965’s “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero” is when the Kaiju movies made like Fonzie and jumped the shark. I think Inoshiro Honda and Shinichi Sekizawa just lost it with this one. Their plot has just gone crazy, the monsters have totally adapted human characteristics, including celebrating their victories and caring about the humans. They’ve taken Godzilla and Rodan into space and brought a ridiculously misogynistic alien race to Earth. An American who sounds like a gangster plays the lead of the film; you know, to appeal to the American audiences. It’s all kind of crazy.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Rodan (1956) ***

NR, 72 min.

Director: Ishirô Honda

Writers: Takeshi Kimura, Ken Kuronuma, Takeo Murata, David Duncan (U.S. version)

Starring: Kenji Sawara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata

Have you ever watched a movie that you saw as a kid and found incredible joy in seeing images that impacted you so many years ago? That was the experience I had watching “Rodan”, a sort of sister movie to the 1954 b-sci-fi flick “Gojira”, better known to American audiences as “Godzilla”. It isn’t really a sequel to “Godzilla”, but the same studio made it and eventually the Rodan monster was incorporated into the Godzilla series of movies. 

Ebert Thoughts ‘14—A Simple Life (2012) ***

NR, 118 min.

Director: Ann Hui

Writers: Susan Chan, Yan-lam Lee

Starring: Deanie Ip, Andy Lau, Hailu Qin, Fuli Wang, Paul Chun, Tin Leung, Wendy Yu, Eman Lam, Elena Kong

The truth is I don’t always love the Ebertfest entries as much as the organizers do. Although, it’s a very rare entry that I don’t like at all. I liked “A Simple Life”, but it seemed to lack that special something that allows me to praise it as a truly great movie. It’s very well made and very well performed. It’s well written and tells a story that I haven’t seen before. Perhaps it does it too well.

Ebert Thoughts ‘14—Wadjda (2013) ****

PG, 98 min.

Director/Writer: Haifaa Al Mansour

Starring: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Algohani, Ahd, Sultan Al Assaf

In the early days of Ebertfest—when it was called the Overlooked Film Festival—they used to have a free family matinee on Saturdays. I don’t belive the first film of the day is still called a family matinee, and I don’t believe it is free any more. Of course, it may be. I haven’t been there in five years. Anyway, It was usually a film like “Wadjda”. Sometimes a foreign film, always a strong story about a child, the 1^st Saturday matinee was a movie you might expect children to struggle with, but it always held great fascination for them because it involved children.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Grandmaster (2013) ***

PG-13, 130 min.

Director: Kar Wai Wong

Writers: Kar Wai Wong, Jingzhi Zou, Haofeng Xu

Starring: Tony Chui Wai Leong, Ziyi Zhang, Qingxiang Wang, Jin Zhang, Hye-kyo Song

“The Grandmaster” tells the true-life tale of Ip Man, a master martial artist who came out of the final era of feudal China from a Southern clan. He held a challenge against a Northern successor to become the country’s Grandmaster when World War II got in the way. The invasion of China by Japan led to the end of the old Empire and the end of the martial arts clans. Ip Man continued to practice and teach martial arts in the new age. He most famous disciple was Bruce Lee.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Blue is the Warmest Color (2013) ***½

NC-17, 179 min.

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche

Writers: Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix, Julie Maroh (comic book “Le Blue est une couleur chaude”)

Starring: Adéle Exarchopoulis, Léa Seydoux, Salim Kechiouche, Aurélian Recoing, Catherine Salée, Benjamin Siksou, Mona Walravens, Alma Jodorowsky, Jérémie Laheurte, Anne Loiret, Benoît Pilot

In case you don’t recognize it by the title, “Blue is the Warmest Color” is the three-hour long Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winning NC-17 rated film about a lesbian relationship from last year. Of course, that’s not a good way to categorize the film, but it is how many people did. It has been accused of being pornography, but I’ve read little about what it’s really about. It’s really a one-sided telling of that relationship from the point of view of the younger woman who is desperately trying to discover herself in a world that discourages it, even in the confines of a “non-traditional” relationship.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet (2013) ***

NR, 115 min.

Director: Alain Resnais

Writers: Alain Resnais, Laurent Herbiert, Jean Anouilh (plays “Eurydice” and “Cher Antoine ou l’amour raté”)

Starring: Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azéma, Anne Consigny, Lambert Wilson, Mathieu Amalric, Hippolyte Girardot, Anny Duperey, Michel Piccoli, Michel Vuillermoz, Denis Podalydés, Andrrzej Seweryn, Vimala Pons, Jean-Noël Bruté, Gérard Lartigau, Michel Robin, Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc

A story that was lost this past weekend between the Spirit Awards, the Raspberries, the Oscars, and John Travolta’s mispronunciations was the death of one of French cinema’s great masters. Alain Resnais passed away Saturday, March 1. He was 91.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Hunt (2013) ****

R, 115 min.

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Writers: Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold, Anne Louise Hasing, Lars Ranthe, Alexandra Rapaport, Sebastian Bull Sarning

“The Hunt” is one of those ultimately frustrating movies where you find yourself talking to the screen trying to guide the characters away from the mistakes and misconceptions you just know they’re going to commit. “No, no, no. Don’t do that. It’s just gonna make it worse.” Despite your pleas, those people just go on doing what they’re doing as if they aren’t listening to you at all. This trait is most commonly associated with horror movies, but there are some movies that are just about horrors of life that embrace them as well. “The Hunt” is one of those.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Act of Killing (2013) ****

NR, 115 min.

Directors: Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous, Christine Cynn

Featuring: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin, Ibrahim Sinik, Yapto Soerjosoemarno Safit Pardede, Jusuf Kalla, Adi Zulkadry, Soaduon Siregar, Suryono

You might think that the Nazis were terrible. They were, but the men in “The Act of Killing” make the Nazis look like moral paragons. This frightening documentary looks at men who were leaders of death squads in Indonesia in 1965, when they executed countless communists in a political cleansing. Now, those same men, who are still an important part of the leadership of the country, have been asked to make a movie about their experiences in 1965. “The Act of Killing” documents their efforts as filmmakers.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Down Terrace (2009) ***½

R, 89 min.

Director: Ben Wheatley

Writers: Robin Hill, Ben Wheatley

Starring: Robin Hill, Robert Hill, Julia Deakin, David Schaal, Tony Way, Kerry Peacock, Michael Smiley, Mark Kempner

“Down Terrace” is the debut film of British writer/director Ben Wheatley, who has proved to be a unique and original voice with a tendency toward the strange and the macabre. His latest movie is called “A Field in England” and involves soldiers of England’s 17^th century civil war, who enter some sort of drug-induced treasure hunt for an alchemist. His previous film, “Sightseers”, followed the exploits of the most everyday serial killers ever portrayed. I suppose in its way, “Down Terrace” is Wheatley’s version of “Downton Abbey”.