Movie Diary 4/5/2010

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (Werner Herzog, 2009). Herzog and David Lynch, working together as director and producer. Can the nuttiness be long in coming? When Michael Shannon shares a scene with Udo Kier and Brad Dourif, it’s like he’s been officially welcomed into a brotherhood of character-actor weirdness. (full review 4/9)

Formosa Betrayed (Adam Kane, 2009). Odd, sincere little item that tries to work up some thriller excitement as it educates you about the history of the Taiwanese independence movement – and, sure enough, it will probably educate people on the subject. It’s no City of Sadness. (full review 4/9)

Warlords (Peter Ho-Sun Chan, 2007). Lots of history here, too, of a familiar kind. Some star power: Jet Li, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Andy Lau. I could keep everything reasonably straight for the first 90 minutes or so, which is saying something. (full review 4/16)

The Joneses (Derrick Borte, 2009). This thing has a nice wicked rollout in the first two or three reels, especially if you don’t know what the subject of the movie is, which I didn’t. Kind of hard to sustain after that unless you’re Kubrick, but David Duchovny is good in it. (full review 4/16)