Cypher–industrial spy-slash-scifi-slash-PhilipKDickian thriller with Jeremy Northam, who’s amazingly good, by the guy who directed Cube, Vincenzo Natali. Like that film, Cypher is a lot of fun and stylishly shot on shoestring budget for about half an hour, then once your confusion about the story kind of dissipates (and I got the ‘twist’ about halfway in), it remains stylish but isn’t that terribly engaging. But, still, Northam has some fun.
Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge–a parody of British talk shows starring Steve Coogan. I’m only partway into this series, and I only got it for a) Coogan, who I think is very funny, and b) historical interest (as it was often marked as a predecessor to The Office‘s dark style). It isn’t bad so far–a few very funny moments, and only occasional moments where something veddy British (like jokes about roundabouts) made me uncertain what the hell was going on. Coogan is, yes, great. The show is quite a bit less provocative and innovative than Gervais & Merchant’s, though, and I am mainly mentioning it for Arnab, who inexplicably loved
Sholay–a ‘curry Western,’ or big-screen ’70s epic. Arnab recommended it–and I found it intriguing and often entertaining, although I kept comparing it (unfavorably) to my favorite Leone films. Which isn’t probably fair; it’s a hybrid of more styles and genres, and has some nice tonal twists that would even give Leone pause.
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers–sometimes visually intriguing, with a solid performance (or set of performances) by Geoffrey Rush, and a waste of time. Dully obvious in its psychobiography, unsurprising in its articulation of Sellers’ pathologies, and god damn it never once funny. How can you do a Sellers movie and miss being funny?
Life and Death of Peter Sellers was inexplicably unfunny wasn’t it? But funny people are genreally miserable bastards, and that seems to have been the case with Sellers. I did like John Lithgow as Blake Edwards though. And he at least gave some decent sparring to away Geoffrey Rush from his slumbering acting.
if mike says “curry western” one more time i’ll ban him from the blog.
Lemon curry?
I was just quoting Netflix’s description…. and against Leone’s “spaghetti” variations, I assumed.
I will instead say samosa western.
Oh, and hurrah for gratuitous Python references.
By the by, I gave up on the Coogan show. Funny enough, but I found after seeing half of the episodes I wasn’t really excited about the rest. Plus I’m hoping to get Lost right away, so I sent Coogan packing. Maybe you’d like it more than me.
The… larch.
The larch.
‘Cypher’ is enormously satisfying. Sure it’s stylish, taut, atmospheric, all of which can be mildly damning descriptors. But it is good, solid sci-fi, and Northam manages to look like he is having fun even as he is perpetually bewildered. I also like Lucy Lui in this. It’s not quite her Kill Bill vol. 1 performance, but fine nonetheless. I didn’t get the twist (I wasn’t looking for one — go figure).
I had just watched most of ‘Minority Report’ again a couple of days ago, and it just seems clunky, overblown and dull compared to ‘Cypher.’
But how did you find the movie, Mike? I just looked on IMDB and couldn’t find a single US review. How is that possible?
Does Lucy Liu even act in Kill Bill, Vol. 1? Most of her stuff comes in the anime sequence. Otherwise, she’s just a close-up in a slow-motion tracking shot. I guess she has a few moments, but Ray Liotta is much better as someone whose skull gets sliced off. Liotta also gave a memorable impromtu performance as an abusive father in the parking lot of the Gelson’s in Pacific Palisades. I keed, I keed.
I knew of Natali, from his earlier dandy little no-budget Cube, so I kept an ear open for word of further projects. I heard about Cypher as it was in production, then it fell off the face of the earth; I think I keyed in on it from dvd reviews by Moriarty, at AICN. By the by, Natali has another small-budget sci-fi oddity called Nothing, just released on dvd; it’s in my queue, and I’ll let people know if it’s any good.
I’ll also keep my eye on Liotta, that stinker. Those celebrities! Sheesh!
Slicing off the top of his head and serving his brain to him fried is about the only way to get a restrained performance out of Liotta. The boardroom scene in Kill Bill contains some acting by Lui, though it is the Japanese translation that makes it work.
Yes, the boardroom scene is one of her few moments. By the way, I watched KILL BILL, VOL. 1 with my class last night. I had forgotten how good this film is. Makes me look forward to seeing VOL. 2 the second time around.
a big ad
don’t worry about the security certificate you’ll be asked to “sign” to view it.
“When I’ve seen Steve Coogan on television he’s about as funny as tertiary syphilis. I think, why are people putting money into him? But unfortunately we are awash with people who are third-rate – Ricky Gervais, Peter Kay, not a scrap of talent between them. None of them.”