August 10, 2008

Solid American Films You Can Probably Find at Blockbuster

You Can Count On Me (1999, dir. Kenneth Lonergan)

I watched this one after reading that PT Anderson was an enthusiastic fan; and yes it is worthy of his enthusiasm.







The Wendell Baker Story (2007, dir. Luke Wilson)
I love it enough to find its flaws endearing. My pet favourite from last year. I will continue singing its praises until its brilliance is no longer overlooked.






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in other news, Stop the presses!
Criterion (Eclipse) is releasing Kuarismaki's Proletariat Trilogy!







http://www.criterion.com/ASP/boxed_set.asp?id=2001200

5 comments:

Liripoop said...

Some interesting choices. I haven't seen either of these but will look out for them next time I am in the mood for something different.

s$s said...

welcome to the site liripoop.

Anonymous said...

That Kaurismaki trilogy is great. All of the three films in it are up to standard. I bought this box set from amazon uk a few months ago because I thought that it would never be released here. I guess I should have waited

Tony Tanti said...

Wendell Baker eh? I had been interested in seeing it until every critic said it was awful. You've made me interested again though as we all know the critics don't always have a clue.

s$s said...

It is definitely an imperfect film. In fact, it's a mess. But the mess is glorious -and not in a campy sort of a way; in a straight-forward, funny, "look-at-the-mess-I-made,-isn't-it-great?!" sort of way.

Plus, I really like the worldview that seems to be informing Luke and Andrew Wilson's script.