Huh. Guess I touched a nerve.

The funny thing is that I was thinking afterwards that I'd never seen a movie where I *failed* to recognize so many actors I knew. Didn't notice Hatosy. Didn't notice Rory Cochrane (after just seeing him in "24"). Didn't notice Stephen Dorff. Didn't notice Emilie de Ravin, which I can't comprehend. Didn't realize…

That was totally pre-emptive, and perhaps misjudged. I chose to make a big deal of it at the outset because I know from years of hanging out with Scott and Noel and others that I'm using the letter-grade scale in a different way than they are—my grades are I would say consistently one notch lower than theirs given…

I actually thought the F/X in Don't Look Back were fairly impressive on a technical level. It's more of a conceptual issue: a face that's half Sophie Marceau and half Monica Bellucci just looks kind of silly, which is clearly not the intended effect. I doubt better F/X work would help.

Doesn't look like I'll be able to fit it in, unfortunately. I know Martin's made a bit of splash among certain key cinephiles, so hopefully it'll turn up at the Toronto fest, which is where I tend to catch up with the Cannes sidebar films. (I don't file from Toronto so I can see 5-6 films per day; here I can rarely…

Yes. I actually say so parenthetically right in that sentence. I slightly prefer the original version (mostly because I find Michael Pitt more annoying than frightening), but they're near-identical and both are brilliant provocations.

I consider Pitt one of the great comic actors of our time, and wrote an Esquire piece a few years ago arguing that his physical beauty had more or less killed his career:

My apologies, Cahiers, but I really don't think this knowledge will adversely affect your viewing experience. The film ends approximately .82 seconds after that line is spoken and the line itself has nothing whatsoever to do with anything else that happens in the film. I guess I could've just said it's a complete non…

I wouldn't call this one quiet or thoughtful — certainly not in the way that Jackie Brown is. It's just way less bravura than usual. Almost mundane at times, at least compared to everything else he's ever done. If I'd seen it without credits or any foreknowledge of its existence I'm not sure I would have guessed it…

Planet Terror is clearly a Carpenter homage, and a pretty expert one imo.

If Looking for Eric wins the Palme d'Or, I will [horrible act depicted in Antichrist elided]. Even if you like it more than I did, it's utter piffle. It'd be like giving the Palme d'Or to The Full Monty or something.

No way do I have time to defend Irreversible right now, but the review I wrote for Time Out New York when it came out is here:

Lemme see if I can simplify this.

I would agree that it's Campion's strongest work in years. It's my favorite film of hers since The Piano, in fact. But that ain't sayin' much.

Ulysses isn't a documentary last I checked.

I meant newcomer in the sense that Mendoza only started making films a couple of years ago. He's been ridiculously prolific in that brief time.

I've actually made more money playing poker than writing over the past few years. Unfortunately, the crap economy has scared all the fish away.

Films in English are subtitled in French. (It takes me a few minutes each time to train myself not to look at the subtitles.) Films in French are subtitled in English. Films in any other language are subtitled in French and soft-subtitled in English, i.e. there's French dialogue on the actual print and then English…

Why am I not in a cool STAFF box. Why.

Actually, I just realized there've been two A's. The other was Carlos Reygadas' SILENT LIGHT.