017) The Good Soldier Schweik (Karel Steklý, 1957)
Sun, Jan 15 / Netflix DVD
I read Jaroslav Hašek’s novel (or really, four novels) The Good Soldier Švejk last year, so I was curious to check out the pre-New Wave classic of Czech cinema it inspired. (The Facets DVD titles the film after the German spelling of Švejk’s name, for some reason.) And it’s … OK. It’s a very literal translation of the first two volumes, which is kind of tedious when you’ve just finished reading them. (I never much got excited about the Harry Potter films, either.) Besides, the novel Švejk comes with Josef Lada’s illustrations, so Hašek’s words already have the perfect visual accompaniment. A film with real live three-dimensional people just seems kind of ehm in comparison. There’s a “sequel” called Beg to Report, Sir (I think it’s actually the second half of the first movie — blame Facets again), but I’m not in a rush to see it. Do read the novel if you get a chance. It’s rather uneven, and Hašek died before completing it, but the best stuff is quite sharp (and funny) anti-war satire.
018) Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1932)
Wed, Jan 18 / Netflix DVD
A recent Criterion Collection release and well-deserving of the honor. It’s still creepy as hell, and Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau is one of the all-time great horror performances: weird and sinister and flamboyant but somehow never making the obvious acting choices. Also, the DVD includes The Truth About De-Evolution as a special feature, which is reason enough for me to recommend it.
019) Fright Night (Craig Gillespie, 2011)
Thurs, Jan 19 / Redbox DVD
I have no great love for the original Fright Night, with the exception of Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall. (While we’re on the subject of all-time great horror performances: Sarandon as Jerry the vampire! If only the Oscars honored more than middlebrow prestige pictures.) So a remake missing the two things that made the original sorta work seemed kind of pointless. But the new Fright Night as a whole actually improves on the first. David Tennant is great fun (of course), Colin Farrell is good (if not Sarandon-level great) and this may be the first movie I’ve seen with Anton Yelchin where I didn’t recoil at his smugness.
020) 12 Rounds (Renny Harlin, 2009)
Fri, Jan 20 / 92YTribeca, NYC
What’s a John Cena/WWE movie doing on my list? I saw it as part of a MST3K-style bad movie night hosted by The Flop House, one of my three essential podcasts (along with The Bugle and Answer Me This!). The film is terrible, of course — though more watchable than previous Flop House live pick Twin Sitters* — but this screening of it was the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. (Also: Aidan Gillen, aka Tommy Carcetti from The Wire, has the best profile picture on all of IMDb.)
*The Barbarian Brothers “classic” with the tagline “You’re never home alone when you’re a twin!”
021) A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956)
Sat, Jan 21 / Film Forum, NYC
The last of the Bresson retrospective, and also the best of his films that I’ve seen. It’s based on the real story of a member of the French Resistance who gets imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Nazis. The whole movie is just Fontaine plotting his escape one minute detail at a time, until a wrench gets thrown in the works right before he’s about to break out. There are no subplots and, for most of the film, not much in the way of dialogue or secondary characters, but it’s engrossing nonetheless. I don’t think it’s available on DVD, but I suspect this theatrical run is gearing it up for a Criterion release.
