Movie Diary 11/12/2009

Gentlemen Broncos (Jared Hess, 2009). This one got scathing reviews completely misreading Hess’s characteristic sympathy (the Coens draw the same “they hate their characters” treatment). Weirdly scatalogical and perhaps pitched too exactly at the level of its teenage protagonist’s imagination, this is quite a funny movie, if not as splendid as Hess’s Napoleon Dynamite. (full review 11/13)

Youth in Revolt (Miguel Arteta, 2009). Michael Cera in a comedy less cuddly than it might have been because of Arteta’s talent for darkish, off-rhythm beats. (full review 1/8)

North to Alaska (Henry Hathaway, 1960). John Wayne keeps an even keel, even in the midst of broad comedy and even broader brawling. Pretty easy movie to like, despite Fabian.

The Bloody Brood (Julian Roffman, 1959). Just checking on this, to see if there might be anything for the Beat movement talk. It’s lousy, but it is steeped in a caricature of Beat-ness, mixed with a touch of Leopold & Loeb intellectual murder. Peter Falk is the ringleader of the killers, in one of his first film parts, and it’s obvious a distinctive actor is present, even in the circumstances. Photographed by Eugene Schufftan, so it looks great even in a bum DVD transfer.