2021 NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY

The Library of Congress has added twenty-five movies to the National Film Registry which recognizes their artistic significance while helping to ensure their preservation for generations to come. This year some of the films selected include Hitchcock's psychological thriller based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, "Strangers on a Train"; John Waters' first feature and camp classic, "Pink Flamingos"; another camp classic featuring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"; the first of the horror franchise that introduced us to Freddy Krueger, "A Nightmare on Elm Street"; the first installment in the trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and several highlights of cinema focused on African-Americans that includes Cheryl Dunye's lesbian romantic-comedy, "The Watermelon Woman"; "The Murder of Fred Hampton", a documentary on the leader of the Illinois Black Panther Party; the coming-of-age, high-school comedy; "Cooley High"; "Richard Pryor: Live in Concert", a concert film featuring the comedy legend; and the Oscar-nominated drama set during the Great Depression in the South, "Sounder".

These films, which must be at least ten years old, have been named because of their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance and with these selections brings the number of films in the registry to 825. Here is the complete list of the films selected to the 2021 National Film Registry:

"Ringling Brothers Parade Film" (1902)
"Jubilo" (1919)
"The Flying Ace" (1926)
"Hellbound Train" (1930)
"Flowers and Trees" (1932)
"Strangers on a Train" (1951)



"What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962)



"Evergreen" (1965)
"Requiem-29" (1970)
"The Murder of Fred Hampton" (1971)
"Pink Flamingos" (1972)
"Sounder" (1972)
"The Long Goodbye" (1973)



"Cooley High" (1975)



"Richard Pryor: Live in Concert" (1979)
"Chicana" (1979)
"The Wobblies" (1979)



"Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" (1983)
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)



"Stop Making Sense" (1984)
"Who Killed Vincent Chin?" (1987)
"The Watermelon Woman" (1996)



"Selena" (1997)



"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001)
"WALL-E" (2008)

LINA WERTMULLER (1928 - 2021)

Lina Wertmüller, the Italian filmmaker who found international acclaim with "Seven Beauties" in 1975 which helped make her become the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, has passed away today at the age of ninety-three. Easily identified by her signature white-framed glasses she usually wore, Wertmüller received an Honorary Oscar for her extraordinary career in 2019, making her only the second female director to receive this award. Her best work boldly blended comedy with political and social commentary, making her one of the most daring and exciting filmmakers in cinema.

She was born with the lengthy name, Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol von Braueich in Rome with her Italian father having some Swiss ancestory. As a young girl, she loved comic-books and was drawn to all areas in the performing arts. After graduating from the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts, Wertmüller found work as a set designer, avant-garde play producer, scriptwriter and puppeteer, traveling throughout Europe. Flora Carabella, a childhood friend, introduced her to actor, Marcello Mastroianni (who happened to be her husband) and he would later introduce her to filmmaker, Federico Fellini who would become Wertmüller's close friend and mentor.

After working as an assistant director on Fellini's "8 1/2", Wertmüller made her first film, "I basilischi (The Basilisks)" in 1963. She wrote and directed this drama that looks at the lives of three young men who live in a small, poverty-stricken village in southern Italy. This movie and her four subsequent feature films found local success but did not receive much attention outside of her home country. It was not until her 1972 feature, "The Seduction of Mimi" and "Love and Anarchy" from 1973 that put Wertmüller on the worldwide stage with both films nominated for Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Giancarlo Giannini, who first worked with Wertmüller in "Rita la zanzara (Rita the Mosquito)" in 1966, won Best Actor at Cannes for his performance in "Love and Anarchy". The actor would appear in eight of her films including Wertmüller's greatest successes, "Seven Beauties" and "Swept Away".

"Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (Swept Away... by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August)" was one of Wertmüller's most controversial yet popular films that starred Mariangela Melato as a snobby, wealthy woman who winds up swapping roles with one of the low-ranking crew members of her yacht (Giannini) after they get stranded on a desert island. "Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties)" features Giannini as an Italian businessman who deserts the army during World War II, then captured by the Germans and sent to a prison camp, where he does anything to survive. In addition to Best Director, the film received Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign-Language Film. 

Hollywood would come calling and Wertmüller signed a four picture deal with Warner Bros. Her first English language film was "A Night Full of Rain" in 1978 with Candice Bergen and Giannini but it was a box-office flop with the studio canceling the rest of the contract. Undeterred, Wertmüller returned home to Italy and continued to make films. She ultimately made twenty-three movies throughout her career with her last film, the comedy-drama, "Peperoni ripieni e pesci in faccia (Too Much Romance... It's Time for Stuffed Peppers) made in 2004 and starred Sophia Loren.

AWARD SEASON 2021 BEGINS

"Licorice Pizza", the latest from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, took Best Film and Best Director from the National Board of Review. Set in the 1970's San Fernando Valley, this coming-of-age comedy-drama looks at a fifteen year old student getting ready for picture day at school when he falls for a decade older photographer's assistant. The stars, Alana Haim of the indie band, Haim and Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late actor, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, were both recognized for Best Breakthrough Performance. Two outstanding performances in "King Richard", the story of how Venus and Serena Williams were helped guided by their parents into becoming two of the greatest tennis players of all time, were honored with Will Smith as their father, Richard for Best Actor and Aunjanue Ellis as their mother, Oracene for Best Supporting Actress. One surprise was the unexpected selection of Rachel Zegler as Best Actress for her film debut as Maria in Steven Spielberg's remake of "West Side Story". The film isn't due out in theaters until Decemeber 11th but this is a good sign for the anticipated musical. And one of my favorite films of the year, "Summer of Soul (...or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)", which revealed amazing, rarely-seen footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, received the well-deserved prize for Best Documentary.

This organization, made up of select filmmakers, academics, students and film enthusiasts in New York, has been around since 1909 and traditionally has been the first of the film critic groups to announce their picks to kick off award season. The NBR Awards will be handed out at a gala hosted by Willie Gest on January 11, 2022.

2021 winners of The National Board of Review:

Best Film: "Licorice Pizza"
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Licorice Pizza"
Best Original Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, "A Hero"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen, "The Tragedy Of Macbeth"
Best Actor: Will Smith, "King Richard"
Best Actress: Rachel Zegler, "West Side Story"
Best Supporting Actor: Ciarán Hinds, "Belfast"
Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis, "King Richard"
Best Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel, "The Tragedy Of Macbeth 

Best Directorial Debut: Michael Sarnoski, "Pig"
Best Breakthrough Performance: Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, "Licorice Pizza"
Best Ensemble: "The Harder They Fall"
Best Animated Feature: "Encanto"
Best Foreign Language Film: "A Hero"
Best Documentary: "Summer of Soul (...or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: "Flee"

NBR Best Films of the Year:

"Belfast"
"Don’t Look Up"
"Dune"
"King Richard"
"The Last Duel"
"Nightmare Alley" "Red Rocket"
"The Tragedy of Macbeth"
"West Side Story"

Meanwhile the New York Film Critics Circle went in another direction by selecting "Drive My Car", the nearly three-hour drama by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, as Best Film. This group, founded in 1935 and includes critics from newspapers, magazines and online publications, went with a film that won the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes earlier this year and will represent Japan in the Oscars for Best International Feature. Other standout selections include Lady Gaga for Best Actress for her turn as Patrizia Reggiani in "House of Gucci" and Kodi Smit-McPhee's mesmerizing performance in "The Power of The Dog" which includes the director, Jane Campion and co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch also receiving prizes for the film.

Winners of the 2021 New York Film Critics Circle:

Best Film: "Drive My Car"
Best Director: Jane Campion, "The Power of the Dog"

Best Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Licorice Pizza"
Best Actress: Lady Gaga, "House of Gucci"
Best Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Power of the Dog"
Best Supporting Actress: Kathryn Hunter, "The Tragedy of Macbeth"
Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee, "The Power of the Dog"

Best Cinematography: Janusz Kamiński, "West Side Story"
Best First Film: "The Lost Daughter"
Best Animated Film: "The Mitchells vs. the Machines"
Best Non-Fiction Film: "Flee"
Best Foreign Language Film: "The Worst Person in the World"

CINEMA ITALIAN STYLE 2021

The American Cinematheque has once again joined Cinecittà and the Italian Ministry of Culture to present this year's Cinema Italian Style, a celebration of new films from Italy. While most of this festival will be presented virtually from December 8th to 15th, there will be in-person screenings in Los Angeles of a new documentary about the late composer, Ennio Morricone from Giuseppe Tornatore and the latest from Paolo Sorrentino with "The Hand of God" which has been selected to represent the country for this year's Best International Feature for the 2021 Oscars. Both screenings will be held at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

"Ennio: The Maestro" looks at the career of the legendary Morricone who created more than four hundred musical scores for cinema and television. Tornatore traveled across the globe to interview over seventy renowned filmmakers and musicians to share their experiences on working with the composer along with some never-before-seen archival footage involving Morricone at home and work.



Paolo Sorrentino will come to Los Angeles on December 10th to present, "The Hand of God", set during the 1980's in Naples when it was a tumultuous city. Loosely based on Sorrentino's life, the film explores a tale of fate and family, sports and cinema, love and loss. This will be a double feature with his 2016 Best Foriegn-Language Oscar winner, "The Great Beauty" with Sorrentino holding a Q&A in between the films.

The virtual screenings will feature the recent Italian films, "Blue Eyes", "Ezio Bosso: The Things That Remain", "Futura", "Like a Cat on a Highway 2", "Lovely Boy", "The Hole", "The Image Machine of Alfredo C." and "The Macalusco Sisters".









For additional information and to purchase tickets and passes, please click below:

Cinema Italian Style 2021

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (2021)

Directed by Todd Haynes



Where & When: Nuart Theater, West Los Angeles, CA. October 20, 2021 5:10 PM

Available to stream now on AppleTV+  


While "The Velvet Underground" is being labeled as Todd Haynes' first documentary, this low-key yet appealing non-fiction film doesn't feel far removed from his previous narrative feature work. Utilizing a vivid, cinematic approach with split-screens filled with energized, montage images and little-seen archival footage from the Warhol Foundation, the filmmaker behind "Poison", "Far From Heaven" and "I'm Not There" realized that this avant-garde band deserved and required a non-fiction film that documented their story unconventionally.

And the Velvet Underground were definitely not a traditional rock band, experimenting with unusual pop structures while taking on subversive subject matter in their songs. Not surprisingly, this group was not appreciated during their time beginning in the late '60's, critically panned and largely ignored by the public. But time eventually allowed listeners to catch up to what the Velvet Underground were creating; merging a bold, offbeat artistic vision with rock music that would become highly influential, leading to the sounds of glam rock, new-wave and punk rock to emerge from their early accomplishments.

It began with the meeting of two disparate musicians; the New York born and raised, Lou Reed, a self-taught guitarist who loved rock and r&b and John Cale, a Welsh multi-instrumentalist who relocated to New York in 1963 to study classical music. They had each performed with varied musicians in style and skill (Reed performed with some short-lived garage bands and Cale worked with a few progressive composers including John Cage) before joining forces, realizing they had a shared taste for the offbeat and experimental.

They recruited Sterling Morrison to play guitar and Angus MacLise on drums, performing together under a variety of different band names before settling on "The Velvet Underground". On the eve of their first paying gig, MacLise quit the band, feeling like they were selling out, and was replaced by Maureen "Moe" Tucker. The Velvet Underground began to draw attention in the local music scene around the city, leading the pop artist, Andy Warhol to become intrigued. He viewed this band as a perfect accompaniment to the unorthodox art he was creating, becoming their manager and producer, although his involvement in the creation of their music was clearly minimal. What Warhol did contribute was getting the Underground signed to a record label, designing their debut album cover art and suggesting that Christa Päffgen, known as Nico, join this band. And while the former German model may not have possessed the best voice for singing, she did have a commanding presence and more than willing to work hard in achieving the desired emotion in the music.

As a young queer man trying to find his way, Haynes found comfort and solidarity in the rebellious music of David Bowie, Roxy Music, the New York Dolls before discovering the Velvet Underground while in college, realizing that this band's singular sound had clearly influenced many of these performers that had followed them. The filmmaker would go on to make "Velvet Goldmine" in 1998, a fictionalized look at the glam rock scene in the 1970's featuring a thinly veiled character based on "Ziggy Stardust"-era Bowie and using details from the lives of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.

Now with an opportunity to examine the Velvet Underground's legacy, Haynes decided to avoid having music scholars, critics or fans interviewed to discuss the band in the film, using only people who were there to share their thoughts and experiences. That includes the now seventy-nine year old Cale and seventy-seven Tucker; Reed's sister, Merrill Reed Weiner; Mary Woronov, an actress who was a part of Warhol's entourage and Jackson Browne, the musician that was romantically linked to Nico and played on her debut solo album. Morrison (who died at fifty-three in 1995) and Reed (who passed away in 2013 at seventy-one) make appearances through footage of previous interviews.

Despite the inventive visual flourishes and electrifying music, the film rarely matches the same intensity, remaining strangely lo-fi and static. And once the film reaches the Warhol connection and the striking Nico joins the band, "The Velvet Underground" settles in to a more traditional documentary. Yet the film does succeed in capturing the moments of what made the Velvet Underground such a groundbreaking and essential rock band. 

With "The Velvet Underground", Haynes has crafted an entertaining and informative documentary that generates long overdue attention to a musical group that was far ahead of it's time. The director wanted to share what had drawn him to their esoteric music, with an ultimate goal to inspire a new generation to seek out this unsung band.

2021 AFI FILM FESTIVAL

This year's American Film Institute's annual celebration of new cinema will be taking place starting this week on November 10th and through the 14th. This film festival, considerably shortened than previous years, will be a hybrid of virtual and in-person screenings with them being held at the TCL Chinese theatres in Hollywood. All festival-goers will be required to be fully vaccinated in order to attend in person screenings and events.

The Opening Night film will be the world premiere of  "Tick, Tick... Boom!", Lin-Manuel Miranda's cinematic debut as a director with the adaptation of the first musical by Jonathan Larson, the creator of "Rent". This semi-autobiographical story stars Andrew Garfield as an aspiring theatre composer who suffers from a life crisis as he approaches thirty and he hasn't accomplished what he had hoped by this point. "Tick, Tick... Boom!" is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 12th before streaming on Netflix on November 19th.



Other red carpet premieres will include Pedro Almodóvar's latest colorful melodrama, "Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)" with Penelope Cruz; "Swan Song", a drama by Benjamin Cleary with two-time Oscar winner, Mahershala Ali staring as a man diagnosed with terminal cancer and is offered a radical alterative solution for treatment by his doctor, played by Glenn Close; "Sing 2", the sequel to the 2016 film "Sing", continues the story of Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) with his new cast who have their sights set on putting on a new show at the Crystal Tower Theater in Redshore City. This animinated film also features the voices of Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Taron Egerton and Nick Kroll. And there is the world premiere of Halle Berry's first film as director with "Bruised". The Academy Award winner also stars as an aging mixed martial arts fighter who seeks redemption by accepting an offer to fight the top fighter in an unsanctioned bout while also dealing with the unexpected return of the child she gave up for adoption.







And the Closing Night film will be "King Richard". Will Smith plays Richard Williams, a determined father who sets out to help make his young, talented daughters, Venus and Serena, two of the greatest athletes of all-time. Reinaldo Marcus Green directs. "King Richard" will be released theatrically and streaming on HBO Max on November 19th.



The rest of the fest will feature new works of world cinema, documentaries, short film competition, "Meet The Press" film festival which will spotlight compelling short documentaries involving issues facing society and AFI Conservatory Showcase that will feature the short films by recent graduates of AFI.

For the complete list of films and to purchase tickets and passes, please click below:

AFI 2021

MY VIEWING DIARY: PART FIFTEEN

"Camille" (1936)

The latest movie I've seen starring Greta Garbo is "Camille", considered one of her greatest screen performances and helping the actress earn the second of her three Academy Award nominations. This elegantly grand, period romance about a doomed lady of pleasure and the man who loves her unconditionally until the end was inspired by 1848 novel, "La Dame aux Camélias" by Alexandre Dumas. George Cukor directs Garbo for the first time here, helping to draw out her buried levity, before working with the Swedish actress again in the comedy, "Two-Faced Woman" which would be her final film before retiring in 1941.

Set in 19th century Paris, Garbo plays Marguerite Gautier, a lovely courtesan with expensive tastes. Yet she lacks financial savvy, requiring her to rely on the kindness of wealthy gentlemen to help pay her mounting debts. One night at the theater, Marguerite's confidant, Prudence Duvernoy (Laura Hope Crews) arranges for her to get acquainted with Baron de Varville (Henry Daniell), a man of wealth and prestige who could help Marguerite with her money woes. But she briefly mistakes the handsome, Armand Duval (Robert Taylor) for the Baron. Sparks fly between these two and while the young man is from a financially comfortable family, Armand lacks the serious funds needed to keep Marguerite comfortable. But over time, he falls hard for the enchanting beauty, something she has never experienced before from a man. This conflict causes Marguerite, who is seriously ill with consumption, to struggle between fiscal comfort from the Baron and romantic passion from Armand.

The Garbo in "Camille" is far removed from the early Garbo in the silent film era. After years in Hollywood, the usually somber actress appears effortlessly relaxed on screen, more warm and carefree than many of her previous appearances. The producer, Irving Thalberg (who died at thirty-seven shortly after filming was completed) had the writers re-work the script to cater to the strengths of the actress after seeing rushes of a radiant Garbo. He was also responsible for insisting on giving this stunning, period-costume drama a contemporary feel with Cukor using his reliable skills to make a lively and captivating spectacle despite the dark undercurrents of the story.



"Walk on the Wild Side" (1962)

Opening with a sensational credit sequence directed by Saul Bass featuring a black tom cat prowling the city streets before starting a fight a with a sleek white cat, "Walk on the Wild Side", Edward Dmytryk's demented, Southern-fried soap-opera, is about all-consuming obsession and long-simmering desires. Set during the Depression era, Laurence Harvey plays Dove Linkhorn, a handsome drifter traveling around in search of Hallie Gerard (Capucine), a French woman he had a brief, passionate affair. When he last heard from her, she was in New Orleans yet has no real idea where she might be. While stopping in Texas, he comes across Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda), an attractive fellow drifter who uses what she has to survive. They decide to head to Louisiana together and while Kitty has eyes for Dove, his focus remains on finding Hallie. He discovers that she's working at the Doll House, a brothel in the French Quarter run by the tough madam, Jo (Barbara Stanwyck). Dove is determined to save Hallie from this depraved life but Jo is also determined to keep her, equally obsessed with this Gallic beauty and willing to destroy anyone who stands in her way. 

One of the more distracting problems with "Walk on the Wild Side" (based on a 1956 novel by Nelson Algren) is that it's unable to be clear and direct on the more salacious moments going on in the story due to the self-censorship imposed by the Hays Code. While films coming out of Europe at this time had begun dealing with adult themes with honesty and realism, American movies were still trapped doing a sanitized version of real life. In this film, prostitution is never mentioned, making one wonder what these ladies were really doing in this house and the relationship between Hallie and Jo is left purposely vague even though it's quite clear they are more than "just close friends'.

With the help of a dazzling cast of actors, this swampy melodrama is made a little more interesting. Harvey is just adequate in the role of Dove yet fails to generate much of a real connection with any of his female co-stars. This was Fonda's second film role and already displaying a great screen presence but still had some work to do being fully convincing as a character down-on-their-luck and desperate. The great Anne Baxter makes a problematic appearance as Teresina Vidaverri, the owner of New Orleans café that helps Dove with a job and shelter, a character who is clearly supposed to Mexican and the actress uses an accent to drive it home. And the screen legend Stanwyck is always a wonderful addition to any film, able to make even silly dialogue crackle with intensity. On the other end, Capucine, with the skills of a classic model-turned-actress, struggles to deliver a competent performance, far too stiff to make us believe that Hallie is an alluring and irresistible siren. Restrained by the times, "Walk on the Wild Side" can't really let loose to tell a story that actually feels wild and dangerous.

"A Rainy Day In New York" (2019)

After being unhappy with the film made from his screenplay for "What's New, Pussycat?", Woody Allen (who began his career writing for television in the '50's before moving to stand-up comedy and playwriting in the '60's) vowed to direct his own work. He directed his first feature, "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" in 1966, a strange comedy he made from an existing Japanese spy film by overdubbing the dialogue and rearranging the order of scenes. Allen made a series of popular slapstick comedies before he shifted to the dramatic romantic-comedy, "Annie Hall" in 1977, a box-office hit that won four Academy Awards including Best Picture. His subsequent work would vary wildly from sublime ("Manhattan"; "Hannah and Her Sisters"; "Bullets Over Broadway"; "Blue Jasmine") to substandard ("Shadows and Fog"; "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion"; "Anything Else"; "To Rome with Love"). "A Rainy Day In New York", Allen's forty-seventh feature film as a writer/director, fails as one of the filmmaker's weaker efforts. This poorly conceived romantic-comedy is supposed to contemporary yet Allen has the characters speak and behave in a manner that comes across as oddly dated, feeling far better suited for a story set eighty years ago.

Gatsby Welles (Timothée Chalamet), a college student from a wealthy New York family who loves '40's jazz, drinks at the Carlyle and quotes Cole Porter, is dating Ashleigh Enright (Elle Fanning) who attends school in Arizona to study journalism. When she is given an assignment to travel to New York to interview the acclaimed filmmaker, Roland Pollard (Liev Schreiber), Gatsby decides to surprise her with a romantic weekend in the city. But Pollard is so impressed by Ashleigh's skills and knowledge that he invites her to a private screening of his latest film, forcing Gatsby to rearrange his plans. With time on his hands, Gatsby wanders the streets and stumbles on to a movie set where the director happens to be a friend and the star, Chan Tyrell (Selena Gomez) is the younger sister of a former girlfriend. And due to an actor not showing up, Gatsby is asked to fill in for a romantic scene in the film with Chan. Meanwhile at the screening, Ashleigh meets the handsome, movie star, Francisco Vega (Diego Luna) who invites her out for dinner after being enchanted by the student reporter. What follows are a series of contrived mishaps and illogical decisions that puts a strain on this young couple's relationship, leading to a conclusion that's more dark and off-putting than charming and sweet.

"A Rainy Day In New York" seems like a old script that Allen found in the back of a drawer, blew some of the dust off and went to work filming. And while the actors manage to deliver some fine performances (with brief appearances by Jude Law, Rebecca Hall, Annaleigh Ashford and Cherry Jones) and the camerawork by Vittorio Storaro is quite captivating, the rest of this dreary film does not have a moment that hasn't been reconstructed or recycled from any number of Allen's previous (and far superior) comedies.

At this point in his career, the now eighty-five year old Allen is just viewed as a troublesome relic from the past. His reputation has been shattered by some disturbing allegations from almost thirty years ago even though he has never been charged with a crime. But even before the scandal, Allen was never known to be a warm or gregarious figure and let's not even get in to the story of how he meet his current wife. I have no intention on making any judgement on his character here but to share my thoughts on the filmmaker's latest feature film and "A Rainy Day In New York", with it's lame jokes and out-of-touch premise, is simply lazy and predictable. This is especially disheartening as Allen has proven he is a capable creator of thoughtful, funny and charming movies yet now just grinding out tired retreads from his glory days.