Zelig (1983)

Zelig / Woody Allen / 1983 / threestar

Active Ingredients: Different film styles; Pensive, not preachy
Side Effects: Scattershot presentation; Mixed results

Zelig has elements of a lot of things – newsreels, documentaries, talking heads, staged scenes – but it doesn’t always resemble a movie. Like its title character, Zelig is a shape-sifting chameleon, and just when you think it’s taken its true form, it changes again. The surprise is mostly a good thing, but the film can be so hard to pin down that its many different elements never coalesce into much more than smoke and mirrors. Read more…

1980s, 3 Stars

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October 20, 2010

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Age of Consent (1969)

Age of Consent / Michael Powell / 1969 / threestar

Active Ingredients: Strong performances; Subdued direction; Location shooting
Side Effects: Pacing; Shallow script; 2nd act derailment

Despite a string of beautiful Technicolor masterpieces in the 1940s, director Michael Powell saw his career all but collapse after the release of 1960’s Peeping Tom, which critics deemed “vile”. Fortunately, however, he made one more feature: Age of Consent. With only a few characters and locations, the film has an intimate feel, unlike Powell’s earlier epics like The Red Shoes and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (two of my favorite films). The small scale is well-suited to the story of a painter in need of a muse and a young girl in need of a sexual awakening. Read more…

1960s, 3 Stars

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October 18, 2010

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Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989)

Tetsuo, the Iron Man / Shinya Tsukamoto / 1989 / fourstar

Active Ingredients: DIY creativity; Unique editing; Utter craziness
Side Effects: A few scenes too long, even at 67 minutes

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What do you get if you mix the nightmarish black and white tones of Lynch’s Eraserhead with the psycho-sexual horror of a Cronenberg film? While it’s unjust to reduce the sheer originality of Tetsuo, the Iron Man to such a neat equation, it’s hard not to think of those great filmmakers watching director Tsukamoto’s low-budget, ultra-gory freakout. Throughout an almost-wordless 67 minutes, there’s little in the way of plot. A bizarre “metal fetishist” is hit by a car, then another man is slowly consumed by metal. Piece by piece, his body is replaced with scraps, turning him into a violent, sex-crazed machine. Read more…

1980s, 4 Stars

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October 18, 2010

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Sullivan’s Travels (1942)

Sullivan’s Travels / Preston Sturges / 1942 / twostar

Active Ingredients: Witty dialogue; Good premise; Interesting third act
Side Effects: Joel McCrea; Awkward comedy; Meandering structure

A young Hollywood director decides to experience poverty as research for his next film, O Brother Where Art Thou. “I want this picture to be a commentary on modern conditions,” the director proclaims. The film’s rapid-fire opening dialogue neatly lays out, in bold letters, Sullivan’s character, the plot of the film and its lofty themes. Unfortunately, for much of the film’s run time these themes are only haphazardly explored. Sturges reaches for comedy both high and low early on, but little of it lands. Zany sequences of slap-stick feel out of place, and Joel McCrea as Sullivan is far too earnest and naive to carry the more dialogue-driven comedy. Read more…

1940s, 2 Stars

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October 18, 2010

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The Social Network (2010)

The Social Network / David Fincher / 2010 / fivestar

Active Ingredients: Sharp dialogue; Fast pace; Strong performances; Fascinating story
Side Effects: Overly-convenient final scene

This is not the Facebook movie. The Social Network is about Facebook just as much as Chinatown is about water. Instead of hours of coding or talk about friending, it shows power struggles, blow-ups, betrayals, and schemes. It’s a film about ambition, about the allure and consequences of greatness. It’s also the most brash, cocksure, volatile, propulsive, and above all, the most fun, movie of the year. Read more…

2010s, 5 Stars

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October 17, 2010

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Welcome to Film Capsule

A Word About Film Capsule

Welcome to Film Capsule, your source for easily digestible reviews.

I started Film Capsule in October 2010 as a forum to catalog my film watching and share my opinion of the movies I watch. The idea was to create a spot where any film writing was fair game: old films and new, highbrow and low, I hope to cover a little bit of everything. Most capsules will be short, but I may post longer reviews, essays or features as I continue to post.
Have an idea for a film review or feature article you’d like to read? Want to see what I think of a polarizing film or see if I can make it through Saló? E-mail me at filmcapsuleblog@gmail.com with any requests, suggestions or comments.

A Word About Me – John DeCarli

Review History

I’ve been interested in film and film criticism since 6th grade. Before my embarrassing angelfire site, I posted reviews on cork boards around middle school. After that, I wrote teen reviews for  Wilmington, DE’s The News Journal and for my high school paper The Whittier Miscellany. At Tufts University I wrote for the Observer and currently contribute to various online publications, including NewEnglandFilm.com. If you’re interested in using my writing for your publication, please contact me at filmcapsuleblog@gmail.com.

Film Taste

Over the years, I’ve tried to expose myself to as many different types of film as possible. Among my all-time favorites are Vertigo, Chinatown, Amarcord, City Lights and The Big Lebowski. I also love directors like Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Stanley Kubrick, Michael Powell and Bong Joon-ho. Recently, I’ve been catching up on B horror films, documentaries and classic Westerns.

A Word About Star Ratings

Assigning star ratings to films is an imperfect science. All reviews on Film Capsule are rated from 1 to 5 stars, no half stars. I’ve chosen this system primarily because of mubi.com (username: johnnyd), but I think it’s a good one. 1 star films are duds, boring and insipid. 2 star films are primarily misfires, but have some redeeming qualities. 3 star films, the majority, are movies I like with reservations. 4 star movies are great, but 5 stars are reserved for only my favorites.

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October 17, 2010

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