mission statement and a handful of reviews

i've decided recently for no reason in particular to attempt to watch every single criterion collection release. i know this makes me seem terribly, if not tragically so, hipster-ific. but: i'm resigned to my destiny. if nothing else, this will afford me the opportunity to see a few decent flicks.

so far (in the past week or so): i've watched five films. the following is a list of these films, accompanied by a brief review blurb.

revanche: german. understated (read: boring as hell). the film has a number of highly disturbing sex scenes involving ex cons and blubbery germans with moustaches. actually: there is only one mustachioed blubbery german ex con, but we see his unsightly dough-y physique so much that it feels like nothing else happens in the film. the film's one redemptive quality is the old man who plays the blubbery german ex con's father. i had trouble understanding exactly how this movie earned its prestigious (dubious?) honor as an official criterion title. apparently: the first first-run feature released by janus films (criterion's partner distribution company) in thirty years.

murmur of the heart: three-fourths of the movie is brilliant--an unflinching look at the strangeness of new-found adolescent sexual stirrings. then the director (louis malle) decided to become a freudian blowhard and ruin everything.

ratcatcher: i liked this m o v i e a lot. it's a scottish film. sparse dialogue. moody and atmospheric. somewhat perplexing, which i found refreshing. bleak.

amarcord: fellini. not his best, but not too bad, either. it had its moments.

jeux interdits: kristen had me watch this. it was very good. war-time melodrama, but insanely romantic at the same time. the epitome of depressing foreign art-films.

paris, texas: thus far, my favorite (of the films i've seen recently). the film is gorgeous. stunning light and set-design. a great story, told in an interesting way (unraveling slowly but never too sluggishly--just enough to keep the viewer engaged). the movie every slow-burning indie film tries to be. like revanche but better because it allows itself to stew in its own mythology.