The main conclusion I took from Errol Morris' documentary on Donald Rumsfeld is that he's a true product of the Nixon administration, because nearly everything he says in the film can be reduced to "mistakes were made." As with his famously convoluted explanation for the paucity of WMD evidence in Iraq (from which the film takes its title), Rumsfeld explains himself with circuitous, pedantic constructions that have a superficial appearance of logic, but reveal absolutely nothing. One topic the film probes is Rumsfeld's disappointment at never becoming President himself, and he demonstrates an adeptness at evading responsibility that may have served him well in the Oval Office. The Unknown Known is very slickly produced, with cool graphics emulating scrolling microfiche and satellite photography—but viewers hoping for a real explanation (let alone an admission of guilt) for the disastrous Iraq War will have to keep waiting.
Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord) is a seventeen year old aspiring surgeon—but her bloody, sexually charged dreams (exquisitely staged grotesqueries reminiscent of Matthew Barney's Cremaster cycle) suggest darker motives. The film belongs totally to McCord, who vanishes so completely into Pauline's weird, perverse world that even Daniel Day Lewis would be intimidated. Her mix of eccentric charisma and vulnerability is a bit reminiscent of Jason Schwartzman's star turn in Rushmore, but Excision has none of Wes Anderson's quirky cuteness to soften its hard edges, and by the finish it more than earns its horror designation. Credit's also due to Traci Lords(!) in a terrific turn as Pauline's mother, and Modern Family's Ariel Winter, who plays a little sister afflicted with cystic fibrosis. (And yes, that's John Waters as a priest.) I saw Excision when it came out, but I think it's a film that just gets better every time you see it. One of the best of the last decade, easy.
The Raid: Redemption delivered brutal, visceral action in an era of tedious CGI wank and reheated superhero garbage, winning fans all over the world in the process (including yours truly). Moments after the end of the original Raid, our hero Rama (Iko Uwais) goes undercover in order to bring down Jakarta's reigning crime family, ingratiating himself with a crown prince whose ambitions are beginning to outstrip his loyalty to his father. While the story is a familiar one (bearing more than a slight resemblance to Eastern Promises and The Departed/Internal Affairs), the story of one good cop who's in too deep has never been told with such terrifying intensity. This is a blistering, furious mushroom cloud of a film, but it's also a master class in pacing, investing every smashed face and shattered bone with dramatic weight. There are too many set pieces to count, from the dazzling prison riot near the beginning to a jaw-droppingly brutal subway car melee that makes Quentin Tarantino look like Nora Ephron. And Rama's final showdown with a fearsome pencak silat master (known only as "The Assassin") makes a strong claim on being the greatest fight scene ever filmed. It's easily the best action movie since Terminator 2—maybe the best ever. And guess what? There's going to be a third one.
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