The Toll of the Sea (Chester M. Franklin, 1922) C+

The Toll of the Sea was the first feature length film shot in Technicolor and, if nothing else, is worth a look for that. The process is a little primitive (only two colors- red and green- could be used in this early process) but it's almost looks realistic. The story is your average silent melodrama: a Chinese woman (Anna May Wong) is seduced, abandoned and knocked up by an American. Thankfully, director Chester M. Franklin doesn't overdo the dramatics and a lot of the film is actually somewhat touching (if somewhat overdone). Anna May Wong isn't great here, but she has the making of a genuinely great actress. If only Hollywood had let her do more challenging work and not stereotype her because of her Asian heritage- she might have been the next Shearer or Bow if she had been given more experience.

The Peach Girl (Wancang Bu, 1931) C-

A perfectly respectable movie, but it's really nothing more than a sub-par Greta Garbo tragedy. I know I shouldn't have been expecting some grand, sweeping epic that would have put 1930's China into perspective for some American 70 years later, but The Peach Girl is something I would expect from MGM, filmed on the back lot with white actors in "yellowface." Everything from the scene with the children slinging mud at each other (with some landing in the face of the rich landlord) to the fair scene to the dramatic deathbed finale. Actress Ruan Ling-yu was considered the Chinese Garbo before her tragic suicide in 1935 and you can see why she was so beloved in her time. She's not given much to do here, but when her beautiful face fills the frame in a close-up few silent actresses can compare.

Semi-Pro (Kent Alterman, 2008) C-

As embarrassing as it may seem, I'm a sucker for Will Ferrell movies. Sure, his target audience is immature teenage boys, but I always manage to laugh myself silly. They are not great movies, just great escapism, which is all you need sometimes. That being said, Semi-Pro is one of the weakest in the recent filmography of Ferrell. He is as funny as ever, but whenever he isn't on the screen Semi-Pro grinds to a halt. The problem is that Ferrell is so over the top and consistently in character that none of the supporting cast (even Woody Harrelson) could even begin to match him. Even Talladega Nights had Sacha Baron Cohen to keep things going when Ferrell was off screen. If you're looking for a couple of laughs, Semi-Pro will suit you fine, but look for Anchorman and Blades of Glory to stand up to repeated viewings.

The Dragon Painter (William Worthington, 1919) C-

A respectable, if not too interesting, silent film starring Japanese star Sessue Hayawaka. The premise is interesting- a talented painter who becomes awful after finding love- but the execution is deadly. Throughout the first half, title cards dominate the screen so much that I thought I was reading a novel instead of watching a movie. Director William Worthington forgets the first basic rule of filmmaking: you have to tell the story visually. There are less title cards in the second half, but were not exactly subjected to passionate filmmaking here (i.e. I was bored). Seeing this Asian perspective is something that we wouldn't have normally seen in 1919, but there could have been a more interesting way to adapt this Japanese style to Western storytelling.

The Cheat (Cecil B. DeMille, 1915) A (x2)

In 1915, D.W. Griffith released The Birth of a Nation, which is widely considered one of the most important films during the silent era (technique wise, anyways). I'd wager that Cecil B. DeMille's breakthrough, The Cheat, is probably just as important and a hell of a lot more fun. It's 60 minutes of pure adrenaline that doesn't waver throughout it's long runtime. The Cheat is about a spoiled woman (Fannie Ward) who steals money from a fundraiser to try to make money on an investment opportunity. When the investment tanks, she is forced to borrow money from her Burmese businessman friend (Sessue Hayakawa) who, in return for the loan, wants sex. She tries to pay him back when her husband's own investment comes in, but he doesn't want the money and literally brands her like a cattle when she refuses. The Cheat is a shocking movie, especially for 1915, and as technically superior as anything from the late silent era. The editing isn't as crisp or exciting as the endings to Griffith's Intolerance or Broken Blossoms, but it's an upgrade compared to a lot of other films of the teens. There are fewer long shots and long takes and more cut ins and close ups than I would have expected. Sessue Hayakawa gives such an incredible performance that I'm surprised he doesn't receive more praise for it. He's subtle in a way that many silent stars aren't, but he's not so subtle (like in Broken Blossoms) that you don't see anything happen. It's the type of performance you wish to see in every silent movie but rarely ever do. The first time I saw The Cheat I thought that Fannie Ward was super over the top and not an example of great acting. This time around I thought Fannie Ward was a hell of a lot more interesting. Sure, she's still way over the top, but from her first scene you understand exactly who she is. You can almost hear her voice when she's telling her husband that she needs a bunch of new dresses for the upcoming charity events. And that last scene in the courtroom- scandalous!

Drums Along the Mohawk (John Ford, 1939) D

The problem with Drums Along the Mohawk don't stem from John Ford's direction (which is adequate, if not especially inventive) or the lead performances from Henry Fonda (warm, but the same old same old) and Claudette Colbert (she tries, but everything lets her down). No, exception for occasional bursts of intelligence (the scene after the major battle where Fonda walks around looking for his wife and all you hear on the soundtrack is the crying of a baby; an amazing close-up of Claudette Colbert as she watches Fonda go off to war) Drums Along the Mohawk can't make up for an atrocious screenplay. The film consists of a wedding, a house burning, finding a new house, going off to battle, a birth and a major showdown with the dirty "Injuns" with no real connection between any of these scenes. Nothing the characters do advance the plot- everything bad that occurs to Fonda and Colbert just seems to "happen" to them and not because of the choices they make- and they don't grow at all as people. They remain one-dimensional stick figures from the beginning to the very end. Legendary character actress Edna May Oliver, who was brilliant in David Copperfield and should have won the Oscar for Pride and Prejudice, isn't given much "acting" to do either besides inject her usual no nonsense humor whenever she appears on screen.

The Edukators (Hans Weingartner, 2005) B-

My first semester of college, I had to read this book called Looking Backwards for my Literature class and it primarily consisted of characters sitting around discussing politics, social justice and all that jazz for nearly 200 pages. There was very little attempt at story, just philosophical mumbo jumbo. Why do I mention this? At certain points during The Edukators, it felt like everything in the film just stopped for five minutes while Jan (Daniel Bruhl) could rant and rave about how capitalism is the downfall of Germany, that capitalists are pigs and that young people are lazy and should unite and fight for something. Thankfully, these preachings come and go rather quickly and the rest of the film is pretty good. After breaking in to the house of one of the "irresponsible" rich they hate, the owner comes home and Jan, Jule (Julia Jentsch) and Peter (Stripe Ecreg) are forced to kidnap him and go into hiding. While locked away from the world the rich man and the youth come to sort of an understanding after the rich man tells them he used to be like them when he was young. It's very interesting to see this rich man (played by Burghart Klaubner) sort of relive his lost youth through these three revolutionaries. What I loved most about The Edukators is the fact that even though Jan, Jule and Peter think they are right about everything, Weingartner is smart enough to show that they're still fucking morons about the real world. They don't think their breaking into houses will have consequences and they don't really believe that the rich man has any justification to not spreading his wealth around.

We Own the Night (James Gray, 2007) B+

The opening to James Gray's We Own the Night is, bar none, one of the most brilliant of the decade. We first meet Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) emerging from the shadows of his apartment hallway to have a quick makeout session with his hot girlfriend (Eva Mendes) before he has to go downstairs to take care of a problem at the club he manages. And did I mention it's all set to the tune of Blondie's "Heart of Glass." Minutes later, Gray juxtaposes with that another party going on across town. It's intent is to celebrate Bobby's brother Joe (Mark Wahlberg) and his promotion to Captain in the NYPD. There are shots of kids running around, a band playing in the background and food being served like a traditional pot luck. Gray makes it clear that these two worlds couldn't be any more different. The rest of the film is interesting because it plays with our expectations of what this type of police thriller should be. In a normal film, you would have gotten enormous gun fights, a melodramatic reunion between Bobby and Joe and an uplifting ending. Instead, the finale is rather subdued and almost anti-climatic, the moment that Bobby and Joe finally "reunite" is quiet and the ending is surprisingly bittersweet.

The Man With the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955) B

The Man With the Golden Arm is an interesting film for 1955 in that it deals entirely with the post-recovery portion of drug addiction. That it deals with heroin addiction is probably the reason for its enthusiastic reaction by critics in its day, because, except for that, it's just like every other above-average addiction movie in the vein of Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend. The film is realistic and honest, but only in that faux-50's style where people are "poor" and wear low-class clothes, but look as if they had just gotten out of hair and makeup. I thought that Frank Sinatra was pretty good, especially during his withdrawal scene, but a tad overrated. Maybe it's just his acting style, but it seems like every line is said with the same deadpan emotion. His voice goes up and down appropriately, but there's nothing really behind it to make it seem real. The real standout is Eleanor Parker as Sinatra's crippled wife. She's written as a one-dimensional guilting nag, but she wisely stays clear of that and almost becomes sort of a femme fatale, doing anything and everything to keep her man.

The Thomas Crown Affair (Norman Jewison, 1968) C-

This is my second viewing of The Thomas Crown Affair and I still don't think it's a very good film. Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway are "sexy! no no no" but are they particularly interesting here? Not really. The placing of four different point of views during the robbery is fascinating, but eventually realizing that Jewison is using style to cover up a lack of substance. The robbery is one of the most boring I've ever seen in a film. They take people hostage in an elevator and the lobby? That's the big secret plan? You've got to be fucking kidding me. After this lackadaisical robbery, the screenplay sort of bounces around from setting to setting, character to character without ever stopping to reflect upon anything substantial: "Oh look, Steve McQueen's flying a plane with 'Windmills of Your Mind' playing over the soundtrack. That's kinda cool. I wonder what it has to do with anything. Nothing you say? Then why the hell am I watching it?" It's only been a couple of hours after I finished watching The Thomas Crown Affair and I really can't remember anything between the robbery and the ending. The only scene that's particularly memorable is the chess scene between Dunaway and McQueen. If you never thought that chess could be that dirty, you obviously haven't seen this scene; it's downright filthy (in an amazing way)!