10 New Film Reviews

We recently reviewed these 10 films at both 1000 DVDs to See and 1000 Great Films

The Memory Loss Tapes (2008) - terrific documentary
Close-up (1990) - touching but propaganda
In Bruges (2008) - inventive, entertaining killer thriller
John Adams (2008) - historical epic tv mini-series, 13 Emmys
Man On Wire (2008) - well-crafted, not so suspenseful, see the cover
Milk (2008) - excellent mythic history of politician Harvey Milk
Ugetsu (1953) Japan, bw - spooky Japanese medieval war fable
Kinamind (2005) Denmark - touching immigrant romance story
Shallow Grave (1994) - fun, twisty suspense from Danny Boyle
Mrs. Miniver (1942) bw - Wyler's classic war story of England, winner of Best Picture; it's pro-war tone is a good bookend for the anti-war best picture The Best Years of Our Lives, released 4 years later.

Caution ahead! Films to avoid:
Doubt - much ado about nothing, good acting but not much else; Meryl Streep is a freaky minion of Satan, a self-righteous wrath of god dispenser that is too medieval for public safety - I say "burn the witch", that'll put the fear of god in her!
The Exterminating Angel - Bunuel's farce about a bunch of Mexican aristocrats who come to a dinner party and can't seem to leave; it becomes claustrophobic and maddening over time - just burn the house down already!
Targets - early Peter Bogdanovich psycho film about a man with a bunch of weapons and ammo who starts shooting people on an L.A. freeway; Boris Karloff is the only attraction here!
You and Me and Dupree - terrible comedy with a wasted cast

The Alzheimer's Project: The Memory Loss Tapes on HBO

[I've yet to see this four-part documentary series on HBO, but I feel strongly enough about this subject that I wanted to post this in advance of the series beginning, and the advanced reviews have been excellent, as well as previous documentary films by these filmmakers - El]

HBO is going to unscramble its premium signal Sunday, though it may not be done in all areas, thus allowing non-subscribers to see "The Alzheimer's Project" part one, at 9-10:30pm Sunday night.

HBO says of the series "A new way of looking at the disease". Click here for the HBO Link, and all four episodes can be streamed from here as well.

My lifetime friend, Charlton McMillan, and his wife Shari Cookson were instrumental in creating The Memory Loss Tapes, the first episode of this four-part HBO series. Shari, who is a multiple Emmy nominee for Living Dolls and All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise, shares director-producer credit with Nick Doob. Charlton, an Emmy winner for Living Dolls, shares editing credit with Nick. Charlton also did some editing work on the second part of the series, Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?

Here are two print reviews for the series:
New York Times
L.A. Times
A blog review from critic James Bawden

Please either watch or record this and let people know about it. We never know when we will have to deal with this disease either within our families, friends, or within our own minds. Rather than giving money to corporate gamblers, we should be funding cures and care for humanitarian efforts and documentaries such as these.


The Alzheimer's Organization is at http://www.alz.org/