Rapid Fire: Summer Begins

In an attempt to catch up on some things I've viewed.

White Dog (Sam Fuller, 1982) -- Fuller's last American film, and perhaps one of his best. An actress in L.A. finds a "white dog" (a dog trained to attack black people) and the subsequent attempted rehabilitation by an African-American animal trainer. A sad and hopeless indictment of racism in America, what might appear as a Lifetime made-for-TV movie is rich with energetic and unique direction by Fuller. It's a shame this film has been shelved for so long. Based on the real life exploits of actress Jean Seberg and Romain Gary (who wrote the memoir).

All The Real Girls (David Gordon Green, 2003) -- The follow up to his breakthrough great film George Washington, the (then) 28-year old American wunderkind co-wrote and directed this southern love story. In many ways an improvement over his previous feature, yet I found it to be much less enchanting -- Green strives so hard for awkward and natural performances that it grows a bit tiring, however realistic it may be. Still, this is an excellent film from one of America's most promising directors. Co-written by lead actor Paul Schneider, and co-starring a wonderfully confused and beautiful Zooey Deschanel.

Saraband (Ingmar Bergman, 2003) -- Bergman's follow up to Scenes From a Marriage, some 30-odd years later. Shot on digital video (I know, right), this film is just as heart shattering the second time around. Bergman's work with Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson is so good it's mind bending.

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Entourage (Episode 43: Welcome to the Jungle) -- Entourage gets ambitious in this 2nd-half season premiere, choosing a documentary style approach to cover the making of their film in Columbia, with drastically mixed results. Though a few good gags, the interview-format was underwhelming and the Walsh-Goes-Hearts-Of-Darkness storyline was brutally predictable and silly.

John From Cincinatti (Episode 2: His Visit) -- Though I missed the first episode, I figured I'd give this a shot. It's terribly uneven, and the characters tend to lapse into elliptical, abstract dialogue which seems like a half-ass attempt at something interesting and profound. The episode provided enough for me to want to watch next week, but with a short-leash.

Flight of the Conchords (Episode 1: Sally) -- New Zealand comedy-rockers Flight of the Conchords get their own show, which seemed deserving to me after seeing their HBO stand-up special (which was nothing short of hysterical). After seeing the first episode, I'm not convinced their live performance ability is justified by a pseudo-narrative storyline. A few comic highlights (including a laugh-out-loud joke about Fleetwood Mac), but mostly a drag. Again, I'll give it another shot.