Our reviewers select and review the best independent and foreign films on amazon.com, cd universe, and netflix

Title: Miami Blues
Year: 1990
Director: George Armitage
Writer: George Armitage, based on the novel by Charles Willeford
Stars: Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fred Ward

The Story: A rampaging sociopath falls for a giggly prostitute, then steals the badge and gun (and false teeth) of a sad-sack cop. To his great surprise, he discovers that a little bit of legitimacy can be addictive.

Why It’s Great: Baldwin was always great, but his problem early on was that he was cursed with the soul of a character actor trapped inside the chiseled features of a leading man. Only now that he’s weathered and thickened can he been recognized as on of our great actors. This movie gave him a great early opportunity to let some madness shine through those baby blues. Leigh became a little mannered in later years, but she could not be more raw and winning and unaffected here. The easy choice would have been to play her dim-witted role as just a victim, too dumb to see what’s wrong with this guy. She does something far more interesting. They say that when a true sociopath looks at you, their eyes are so direct and intense that you wonder if you’ve ever really look anyone in the eye before. We see Leigh respond to that energy, even though she knows better.

Two more reasons at Cockeyed Caravan.

Hopefully, this will be the last word on the Academy Awards: get out of high school. The Golden Globes has grown into a slick TV show while the Oscars is still a high school musical. The problem with Oscar is he thinks he is the BMOC (big man on campus). But while he is waiting his college acceptance letter s to the top schools, kids like Grammy and Globe are kicking butt.

The biggest embarrassment this year was the banishment of The Hurt Locker producer Nick Chartier because he wrote emails to Academy members asking votes for his team and cited the unfairness of the other team’s (Avatar) giant budget for uniforms and equipment. Oscar punished him by banning him from awards night and not allowing him to collect his trophy on stage with the other kids..

Now doesn’t this sound like high school? Kids would call it pathetic. Parents and teachers would call it silly. Only at Hollywood High is this kind of behavior taken seriously. You can just hear the kids saying, “But Mom, it’s REALLY important.”

Ratings were up this year; proving turmoil and more nominees do make it more interesting. But the audience is fickle, and higher ratings might be a blip on the Neilsen graph. Here are some suggestions to make Oscar more telegenic. Produce an Oscar YouTube race where contestants vie for the amateur Oscar (voted by the Academy members). Interview Academy members waiting in Hollywood unemployment lines and hear how anger they are and how that effects how they will cast their vote. Organize and annual Academy versus Golden Globes softball game.

Once you leave high school for the real world, you’ve got to learn to compete or the next guy will get your job.

Title: Slums of Beverly Hills
Year: 1998
Director: Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)
Writer: Tamara Jenkins
Stars: Natasha Lyonne (American Pie), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler), Kevin Corrigan (Buffalo ‘66)

The Story: A teenage girl in 1976 is hustled from place to place in Beverly Hills by her formerly-well-off father, who’s desperate to keep his family in upscale addresses that he can’t afford. They finally get access to money by taking in their mixed-up niece, who teaches the daughter some untraditional lessons about life and love.

Why It’s Great: It’s virtually impossible for women writer-directors to seize the bullhorn in the aggressive boys’ club that is independent filmmaking. This is partially because marketers don’t know what to do with a film unless it punches you in the gut. Smaller movies like this one too often go under the radar. This is the sort of laid-back, scruffy comedy that forces you back into an older rhythm of movie-watching. It gradually creates a believable and lovable world out of a hundred little right-on details, some that are unique to its kooky setting and some that are universal. In America, we like to pretend that the poor can get rich. That rarely works out, but everybody does have the right to pretend to be rich, provided they have a little bit of hustle, a willingness to borrow, and a whole lot of self-delusion. Entertainment doesn’t always have to sell fantasies of wish-fulfillment, it can also find comedy and drama in the wreckage that those unrealistic fantasies leaves behind.

Two more reasons over at Cockeyed Caravan.

Priceless (France 2006, 104 min, dir: Pierre Salvadori, cast: Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh)

Audrey Tautou is not Audrey Hepburn. This much we knew in God is Great, I’m Not (2001), and Amelie (2001). But she is fetching, sexy, and appealing enough to float like a peach melba through films like Priceless. So much better than bombing completely in dogs like A Very Long Engagement (2004).

A barman and a female hustler (Audrey) meet on the French Riviera. She’s in pursuit of a rich man who will give her everything; he’s hunting for the same in a woman. Naturally they are not meant for each other, but then again, maybe they are. Director Pierre Salvadori is the “go to” guy in France for date night romance movies, but that doesn’t mean he’s a hack. On the contrary, he’s very good at what he does and in Priceless he struts his stuff. Where he earns his euros is in stoking the jealousy and desire of each character while they go about hustling their own private gravy train between the sheets.

Finally Audrey gives up her dream of money and runs away with her euro-centless (penniless) true love. Audrey is always best as the waif. Here she’s the kind who is so confused by what she thinks she wants that she almost looses her real love when he is right in front of her. It is so much better than watching her trying on all those big hats in Coco Before Chanel (2009). We are happier with Audrey in Priceless. Which is exactly the point. For the price of a movie ticket or a DVD you can have 104 minutes of joy.

Title: Monsieur Hire
Year: 1989
Director: Patrice Leconte (The Girl on the Bridge)
Writers: Patrice Leconte and Patrick DeWolf, based on a novel by Georges Simenon
Stars: Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire (La Ceremonie)

The Story: A woman has been killed. The police suspect a antisocial, middle-aged man who likes to spy on his beautiful young next-door neighbor. But just when we start to worry about the object of his gaze, she turns the tables on her voyeur and takes control of the situation.

Why It’s Great: Leconte’s career is still going strong, and he’s one of the few French directors whose films routinely get released in the States, but he’s never become a household name over here. It doesn’t help his recognition factor that he keeps migrating through different genres, mastering each one and then moving on. What his films always have in common, however, is a heartbreaking romanticism. Americans find sex so alien and alienating, that we demand our movies either demonize it or worship it. The French, on the other hand are able to take a more nuanced view, exemplified by the audience’s complex relationship to Bonnaire. She is an object of desire with desires of her own, both wanted and wanting, both victim and vicitmizer.

Three more reasons at Cockeyed Caravan.

Title: The Murder of Fred Hampton
Year: 1971
Writer and Director: Howard Alk
Stars: Fred Hampton, Rennie Davis, Edward Hanrahan

The Story: What do you do when the subject of the documentary you’re making gets assassinated halfway through? You intercut an expose of the murderers with the inspiring footage you have of the dead man. The life and death of this charming 21-year-old Black Panther makes for one of the most jaw-dropping and edifying documentaries I’ve ever seen.

Why It’s Great: As chilling as it is to watch the post-murder scenes, the most fascinating footage is the mock trial Hampton holds for himself as a piece of political agitprop before his death. Amazingly, Hampton gives himself a thoughtful trial filled with real-world give and take, designed to make his audience think, not feel. The actual justice system, on the other hand, shot first and asked no questions later in this case. This movie takes everything you think you know about the Panthers and turns it on its head. There’s also a great scene where Hampton meets with two other revolutionaries who want his support. To their surprise, he skeptically dissects their shaky program point-by-point. His criticisms are extremely smart, yet delivered with his usual swaggering humor. In response, they scoff, “The reason we don’t do a lot of talking is because what you say is a foregone conclusion with us.” He cocks a slight smile, and then shoots back “Yeah, well, the reason I do do a lot of talking is that nothing is a foregone conclusion with me.” Now that is a dangerous man.

Three more reasons at Cockeyed Caravan.

Title: The Girl Can’t Help It
Year: 1956
Director: Frank Tashlin (Son of Paleface)
Writer: Frank Tashlin and Herbert Baker
Stars: Tom Ewell (The Seven Year Itch), Jayne Mansfield, Edmond O’Brien (D.O.A.)

The Story: A down-on-his-luck press agent is ordered to make a singing star out of a gangster’s voluptuous girl, under pain of death. Unfortunately, she can’t sing a do-re-mi to save her life. But then the gangster discovers a wild new sound that breaks all the rules. If she can’t make it as a lounge singer, maybe she can try this new-fangled “rock-n-roll”. But now there’s one more problem: the agent and the singer have fallen in love.

Why It’s Great: Both the presence of Mansfield (the poor man’s Marilyn Monroe) and wall-to-wall rock-n-roll soundtrack made this movie look like a quickie exploitation picture, so it took people a while to realize how great it is. Only in recent years have audiences accepted that Tashlin was one of the funniest directors of the ’50s and Mansfield was actually a sly comedienne who was in on the joke. Tashlin was the only director to successfully make the jump from directing Warner Brothers cartoons to making live-action movies, and the secret of his success was to keep the exact same style. His features have the same anarchy, expressionism, and post-modern glee of the best Daffy Duck shorts.

Three more reasons at Cockeyed Caravan.

Before the Academy Awards spouts and blows, let’s credit a Muse that surely influenced director/writer Jim Cameron, the self-proclaimed King of the World and master of movies. The name of the Muse is C.J. Cherryh and she’s one of the best American science fiction writers ever. Back in 1981 she published Down Below Station.

That’s the same year Jim Cameron directed his first movie, Piranha Part II: The Spawning. Ever see that one? You can rent it on Netflix or buy it on Amazon.com for less than four dollars. That doesn’t suggest a lot of demand. But Down Below Station won the Hugo Award, is an all-time classic, and never out of print.

In the thirty years since Down Below Station, C.J. has written many wonderful and popular books. Cameron as directed several good movies and written one good screenplay (The Terminator 1984). In private, many in Hollywood say Avatar is, “movie 3D, screenplay 1D”. So where did the inspiration come from for the beautiful and gentle creatures who inhabit Avatar?

Down Below Station is set on a permanent space station hovering over a distant planet we are trying to exploit for its natural resources. But many among us see the beautiful and gentle creatures who inhabit this world as threatened by out intrusion. Some go down to the planet on a mission to save these creatures and protect their primitive, naturalistic way of life. Some actually “go native” and begin living among the alien creatures. Sound familiar?

Movies don’t know the word plagiarism, and that is as it should be. Ideas are the soul of creativity, and they can come from anywhere and everywhere. But it would be nice if the King of The World could stand on one of those stages while receiving one of those awards and say, “years ago I read a book by a gifted woman who was, at that time, teaching school in Oklahoma City each day, and writing at home every night. Her imagination and her characters inspired me to think up Avatar, and I would like to thank C.J. Cherryh for being my main Muse.”

Of course, if James Cameron every even thought those words, the 20th/Fox lawyers would cut out his tongue. But they don’t need to worry. His ego long ago erased everyone from his creative universe save himself. Some say he even believes he sunk the real Titanic. When the Academy Awards and Avatar have come and gone; curl up with a copy of Down Below Station or Cyteen or Hellburner or any of the other books in her Alliance-Union series. You don’t need to put on 3-D glasses either.

The big news of the day in the American movie biz is a footnote to the rest of the world. After a decade of playing “you pay for it,” the American movie industry has finally found outside investors to convert chain movie theaters all over the country to digital projection. About 14,000 screens in multiplex theaters are involved. Wall Street Journal readers from Australia to France might puzzle at why it takes J.P. Morgan Chase bankers to do this.

The American theater owners are giants: AMC, Cinemark, and Regal control most of the theaters in the US. You mean to tell me they can’t finance their own modernization? Apparently they’d rather be in the popcorn business. The acronym for this stimulus package is: KASIMA. The bankers coined this. It stands for “Kicking And Screaming Into the Modern Age.”

The real motivation for these later-day conversos to digital is their failing business model. Movie-going in the US has become a weekend recreation. Monday through Wednesday you can throw a bowling bowl down the aisle of any theater and not hit anyone. Digital projection means theaters can import signals from a variety of events from sporting matches to Glenn Beck. (Mr. Beck already appears on about 450 screens already converted, as does the Metropolitan Opera-though not together. Both are very popular).

Freedom to dip into multiple sources of programming and not depend exclusively on the Hollywood pipeline is the dream of movie theater chains. But having the means is not having the motivation. Once Hollywood is not the only source of product for the theaters, who books the shows and who does the promotion? Even though it might cost $250,000 to equip a Regal Cinema, it costs less than $5000 to put the same capabilities for simulcast satellite delivery in any playhouse, club, or restaurant. These venues become competition for the theater chain oligarchy. Do you want to watch a soccer match munching popcorn or eating steak and drinking beer?

MovieWithMe.com’s sister company, AudienceSource.us is already busy programming for all of these venues. The future of digital delivery of special simulcast events belongs to the packagers and their wiliness in promotion. It’s relatively easy to push people into movie theaters with 25 million dollars of Hollywood ad money, but how do you do it on two dollars and ninety-five cents? That’s the real conundrum for the digital future, and the KASIMA crowd hasn’t a clue.

After The Wedding (Denmark 2006,120 min. dir: Susanne Bier, cast: Mads Mikkelsen (Jacob), Rolf Lassgard (Jorgen), Sids Babett Knudsen (Helene)

Melodrama is what hits your tear ducts when you think you’re safe. After The Wedding is a master class in how it works. Melodrama comes from 18^th Century narratives that were spoken over musical melodies used to pump up the mood. Sort of like Cialis commercials on TV.

After the Wedding is about a Danish expat who lives in a typical third-world country. He does good work by teaching in a primary school. As the film begins, he contacted by a millionaire back home who is considering giving a giant endowment to the school. The catch: Jacob (the teacher) must appear in person to audition for the funds.

He flies home to Denmark and arrives on the eve of the big weekend wedding of the millionaire’s (Jorgen) daughter. Of course, he is invited. Weddings and funerals are always fun occasions for a movie, and Susanne Bier knows how to take us down the aisle. Jacob’s first surprise is meeting Jorgen’s wife, Helene. He dated her! Then he meets her daughter, the bride. And the he finds out Helene was pregnant when they split up! His daughter is getting married! (Exclamation points to seem cool and hide my own embarrassment at being hooked on the story).

The whole film reminds me of two screenwriters telling stories in a bar saying, “Can you top this one?” But it works. These actors earn their pay. Jacob and Helene still have passion in their eyes and in their body language. When we learn that Jorgen is conveniently dying of an incurable disease, it all makes movie sense.

Susan Bier went on to make Things We Lost in the Fire, which starts with a funeral. Weddings and funerals and recitativo singers playing to a courtly audience are all fertile furrows where drama nurtured by melody sprouts melodrama. Forget the negative soap opera connotation of the word. Susanne Bier and an excellent cast make After The Wedding worth our hope and tears as two lovers finally find each other.