January's Diet

Instead of an enormous, cumbersome list at year's end, I'll report on what I watch monthly. I leave you to count the carbs ("Big Trouble in Little China"). The pictures I saw in January, per The Scout's diary:

"The Heartbreak Kid" (A) (Director: Elaine May, 1972. Diary note: Funny, painfully truthful comedy of woes, in mood a nice companion to Mike Nichols' melancholic "The Graduate.")
"L'Enfant" (A) (Directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2006. Diary note: The Dardenne Brothers' nonjudgmental, powerful piece de resistance.)
"Seven Up!" (A) (Directors: Paul Almond and Michael Apted, 1964. Diary note: A 30-minute documentary for British television's "World in Action" frames a strong foundation for a series of social studies into the lives of London's future, with an update every seven years. Fascinates.)
"The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" (A-) (Director: Cristi Puiu, 2006. Diary note: Long, but nonetheless, I was in a state of absorption to know of the lonely Mr. Lazarescu's ailment(s), a victim of an insufficient health care institution in total disarray.)
"Secrets & Lies" (A-) (Director: Mike Leigh, 1996. Diary note: One of the British auteur's best. Has an irreversible effect on the heart and the gut.)
"Children of Men" (B+) (Director: Alfonso Cuaron, 2006. Diary note: Emmanuel Lubezki's 40-pound hand-held (not Steadicam, as many assume) is the star of Alfonso Cuaron's nervy dystopian thriller.)
"The Last King of Scotland" (B+) (Director: Kevin Macdonald, 2006. Diary note: Forest Whitaker reigns as psychotic Ugandan President Idi Amin, while impossible to ignore, too, is Scotland's James McAvoy as Dr. Garrigan.)
"The Murder in Thornton Square" ("Gaslight" in a 1978 American reissue) (B+) (Director: Thorold Dickinson, 1940. Diary note: Almost a casualty of an MGM order to destroy all copies of Dickinson's minimalistic adaptation of the British stage play to ready for George Cukor's 1944 "Gaslight" production. A shameful, unforgivable act against a fine film.)
"Blood Diamond" (B) (Director: Edward Zwick, 2006. Diary note: Preachy, but powerful in places that count, and namely an energetic entertainment with brawny, if not showy, portrayals.)
"The Painted Veil" (B) (Director: John Curran, 2006. Diary note: As a selfish adulterer, Naomi Watts, as usual, is impeccable, but Ron Nyswaner's literate adaptation merits nearly equal regard.)
"7 Plus Seven" (B-) (Director: Michael Apted, 1970. Diary note: "Seven Up!" clips act as too much of a crutch for the follow-up documentary's impetus to make up for lost time, but still a decent document of London's future at 14. Notice how confidence in children, from age 7 to 14, wilts to almost nil.)
"The Good Shepherd" (B-) (Director: Robert De Niro, 2006. Diary note: Too low-key to enable the tension of the spy games to reach a satisfactory climax, and Jolie is a miscalculation, but nevertheless, Matt Damon's ghostly execution of C.I.A. foreman Edward Wilson still sends shivers, like a xylophone mallet, up and down the spine.)
"An American in Paris" (C+) (Director: Vincente Minnelli, 1951. Diary note: Sense the toil in the stagy, kaleidoscopic 18-minute musical finish, a daydream with composer George Gershwin's orchestration of his "An American in Paris." I prefer, without exception, 1952's funnier, more footloose "Singin' in the Rain.")
"The Dirty Dozen" (C) (Director: Robert Aldrich, 1967. Diary note: Aldrich's go-for-broke slog, an overt, nihilistic glorification of the misfit, is, upon the surface, adequate entertainment, but, in essence, a cartoonish protraction in cold violence.)
"Notes on a Scandal" (C) (Director: Richard Eyre, 2006. Diary note: The oppressive Philip Glass score and tyrannical narration extinguishes the suspense, and the sensational, juicy portrayals of Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench dish out the melodramatic mania. Eyes roll.)
"To Catch a Thief" (C) (Director: Alfred Hitchcock, 1955. Diary note: Not of Hitchcock's best. The pace of the picture is off. An uneven romantic thriller with a not-too-remarkably picture-perfect French Riviera and Grace Kelly.)
"A Christmas Carol" (D) (Director: Edwin L. Marin, 1938. Diary note: Tacky in sentiment, schmaltzy and not in the classic tradition of Charles Dickens' old chestnut.)
"The Black Dahlia" (D) (Director: Brian De Palma, 2006. Diary note: A solvent concept (De Palma and a grisly period murder mystery) retreats into ruin. A sadly miscast Josh Hartnett narrates as Los Angeles Officer Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert as if with a head cold. And worse, an awkward Hilary Swank as a lesbian femme fatale and Aaron Eckhart in curious bewilderment as Sgt. Leland "Lee" Blanchard. I don't fault De Palma so much as Josh Friedman's incompetent adaptation of James Ellroy's novel and the not-so-brilliant choices in cast.)
"Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (D) (Director: Robert Aldrich, 1964. Diary note: I'm in the midst of a discovery with "Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" That "Eureka!": The incapacity of favor I have for any of Aldrich's overwrought Grand Guignol hysterics.)
"The Last Kiss" (D) (Director: Tony Goldwyn, 2006. Diary note: Zach Braff's suburban whine intensifies in volume. Blythe Danner, too, fusses for no good reason. "Kiss of Death," more like.)
"The Money Pit" (D) (Director: Richard Benjamin, 1986. Diary note: Mild chuckles and Tom Hanks' laborious slapstick can't sell a comedy lemon.)
"Mrs. Parker and The Vicious Circle" (D) (Director: Alan Rudolph, 1994. Somewhat vacant and very slow with Jennifer Jason Leigh's shrill, unintelligible portrayal of Dorothy Parker. All mannerisms, no soul.)
"Big Trouble in Little China" (F) (Director: John Carpenter, 1986. Diary note: Beyond stupid. Ugly, unfunny and devoid of any magic, real or artificial. Unwatchable)