Blancanieves (2012)

Blancanieves, one of the three Snow White movies to arrive in 2012 (this one was released in the U.S. in 2013), starts out interesting but winds up being rather a disappointment. This is a silent film set in the 1910s and 1920s, but it isn't really ever clear why this needs to be a silent film just because it is set in the silent era of cinema. There is absolutely never a payoff in Blancanieves for it being a silent film. No theatrical flourish in which we suddenly have sound, for example, the way that we get in 2011's The Artist.

The highlight of Blancanieves – as with Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror – is the evil stepmother who, in this film, is played with divalicious, hilarious relish by Maribel Verdú. She's fabulous in this, and every single thing she does is over the top and wonderful. (The Spanish poster, as you can see, is not at all confused about who the star of this film is.)

Snow White is also a bullfighter in this film, and that allows for plenty of fun, too, but again there is no real emotional payoff. She doesn't have a relationship with any of the bulls, and neither do we.

The one place where I truly thought the movie was going to break new ground is with Snow White's love interest. In Blancanieves, the film indicates that Snow White's love interest is actually one of the dwarves (the very handsome Sergio Dorado). And so it looks as if Blancanieves will tell us that he is her one true love and it will be him who wakes her up with a kiss. But... then the film refuses to let that happen, and it ends, instead, with a whimper. Snow White becomes part of a freak show and no one ever wakes her up at all. It's a very disappointing finish to a movie that had rather a lot going for it. 

Sun Don't Shine (2012)

Riveting from its first shot, Sun Don't Shine is consistently surprising, creepy, frustrating, and very, very Florida. I really liked it. Shane Carruth was a producer on this, and I'm sure that helped a good deal, but Amy Seimetz's direction is impeccable here. The movie explains itself slowly, unfolding through its characters' strange behavior, and it stays intriguing throughout.

I watched Sun Don't Shine on the Criterion Channel.

Like Someone in Love (2012)

Like Someone in Love (ライク・サムワン・イン・ラブ) is just perfection. It's the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's last film, and it's made entirely in Japan. This is haunting, hypnotic, quietly tragic filmmaking. My colleague said it's like Ozu crossed with Hitchcock, and I think he's absolutely right. This was just so wonderful. I loved it.

John Apple Jack (2013)

I felt like watching something silly and gay this morning and I got what I asked for.

When people complain about how bad gay movies are, this is the kind of thing they're describing. John Apple Jack has a rather cute premise, actually, and Kent Leung is sexy as hell (obviously, he's the reason I chose this dumb gay movie over the twenty other dumb gay movies available to stream), but the movie is made so poorly, the acting is so bad, the jokes are so stupid, the script so preposterous, that it is impossible even really to laugh at the film's humor.

This movie is not good.

But I still thought it was cute, honestly.

How can I be mad at something this guileless? Plus, watching two guys fall in love is still something I want to see. (Even if they are both obviously straight guys and don't do a good job of letting us think they're gay.)