At the Movies: Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D.

Ideally, the movie I'd most like to see in 3D is something like Werckmeister Harmonies. Long takes, sustained tracking shots, not much cutting at all, immersive spaces. Well, Werner Herzog once again leaps ahead of the curve, using 3D technology to map out one of the most fascinating secrets in the world, the Chauvet Cave in France, where undisturbed wall drawings dating back tens of thousands of years represent the first human artistic endeavors still preserved.

Unlike the majority of 3D films currently in theatres, Cave of Forgotten Dreams finds actual physical space way more fascinating than computer-generated vistas or effects sequences (and that's not a slight on 3D tech- I enjoy the added dimension when it's done well). There are moments, drifting along in these deep, enclosed spaces, that one can't help but feel something more than real. It's rare that history can be this visceral without wars or some form of betrayal involved (doesn't that sadly sound like modern life as well), and Herzog, with his magnificent voice, takes us through a meditative look at the human artistic impulse.

Calling this the best use of 3D film technology so far is limiting- Herzog certainly understands the mechanics of how the eye works, using langurous fades rather than abrupt cuts, allowing depth to resolve itself on the viewer's terms. But it seems to me that 3D is best when it comes to realness; I love being immersed in something actual (part of this, I'm sure, springs from my 'puppets>computers' aesthetic). And with all the alien worlds and fntasy spaces that steroptic film presentation has tried to bring us to, I've never been as transported as I was by this film, to a secure little portal into the past.

Also, the fact that 3D film options can include something like this is very encouraging (especially for local audiences). Take a chance and timeslip back into your own genetic history, won't you?

Famous people talked to me: Michael Shannon.

In advance of his latest film, Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, I interviewed Michael Shannon for The Nashville Scene. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

At the movies: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

When a remake of 1992's Abel Ferrara masterpiece Bad Lieutenant was announced, the world cinema community was dumbstruck.

When director Werner Herzog and star Nicolas Cage were attached to the project, jaws dropped. And then an initial trailer, featuring Cage's character's lucky crack pipe and visions of iguanas, surfaced, and everything seemed to make a strange sort of sense. This is in no way tied directly to Ferrara's film, with its Catholic iconography and druggy Passion Play, it just dives into similar sensibilities of drug-fuelled excess and the juxtaposition of drug addiction in the hands of authority.

Also, where Ferrara's film was a relentless dive into the dankest levels of humanity, Herzog and crew have given us a fairly bonkers swerve through the darkest humor one could hope for, which makes a lot of difference.

Detective Terrence McDonough (Nicolas Cage) is plagued by agonizing back pain ever since he saved the life of a prisoner drowning during the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina. Now in the midst of a crippling addiction to pain pills and socially unacceptable thrills, he finds himself investigating the murders of a Senegalese family and trying to stay one step ahead of his bookie.

Where can hope be found for a man stuck far along the edge of life? If you said, hooker girlfriend and running mad schemes from the police station to the most resplendent mansions of crime bosses, then you would be right on the money.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans isn't just one of the best comedies of the year, it's nothing less than a complete artistic rebirth for Nicolas Cage. After toiling for so long in crappy mainstream action flicks (ConAir, National Treasure) and offering gonzo turns in otherwise unworthy films (Ghost Rider, The Wicker Man), here at last is the talent who floored the world in Wild at Heart; disrespecting the elderly, smoking crack, solving murders, doing dirty sex stuff with club trash in front of their boyfriends, fighting with small-time hoods, and trying to simultaneously run the trap game and the cop game. Cage does all this and more.

Add in an understated performance from national treasure Jennifer Coolidge and exceptional reptile effects, and you have one of the gleaming surprises of the year. Not to be missed.

At the movies: Encounters at the end of the world.

My review of Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World is up at ATR/The Tennessean. I know there are heaps of issues with their 'website,' but they are in the process of getting that under control.

Regardless, I hope you check the piece out; it's a hell of a film, and I've been pleased having it kick around inside my subconscious since this year's Nashville Film Festival.