Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (Werner Herzog, 2016)

7/10
Werner Herzog's latest documentary is "about" the internet, in loose terms. As you might expect from a Herzog documentary it departs from a chronological telling of the history of the internet very quickly and instead focuses on the people telling the stories along the way. The film is divided into 10 chapters, although sometimes interview subjects bleed over into other segments. It focuses on pioneers of the internet, world famous hackers, people allergic to radio waves, young adults battling internet addictions, Elon Musk, MRI technicians, a family harassed in a most despicable fashion by internet trolls, and so on. Herzog narrates and asks questions on-camera with his usual mix of detached wonder and dark humor - Herzog's description of the university where the internet was born refers first and foremost to its "repulsive hallways".
There aren't too many great shakes to be had (or history lessons either) but Herzog pokes and prods his subjects in an endearing fashion, and content-wise there's certainly enough to chew on with all the questions inherent to the subject matter. But I wonder if this wouldn't have worked better not as a film but as a series of 10 episodes on a format like Netflix where each subject and topic was allowed more in-depth exploration.

Love (Gaspar Noe, 2015)

5/10
This is just the 4th feature Gaspar Noe has directed in 17 years. It isn't as atrociously awful as Enter the Void, but we're still far from the heights of Irreversible (I have yet to see Seul Contre Tous). Notably, Love features graphic scenes of unsimulated sex. However, recent arthouse films like Blue is the Warmest Color and Stranger by the Lake have featured graphic sex scenes as well as being remarkable films, thus raising the bar across the board. It's not enough to skate by using sex in an attempt to be "shocking", you also have to provide a great movie. Love is not a great movie. As I said, it's not as bad as Enter the Void, but it's not as adventurous either, for what that's worth. Noe is at his best making his case for pure, passionate love and sexuality embittered by what we know is coming (evoking very much his strength in Irreversible) but these moments are too few and far between. The sex becomes monotonous, the acting is dicey throughout, and it's just not that interesting or provocative. The lighting, however, is truly exquisite. And at least Noe appears to have made an attempt to edit this one, unlike Void. But it's just not good enough.

Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)

7/10
I find myself saying the same thing for a lot of these Oscar pix from the last year - fine, well-acted, nothing offensively horrible, nothing very memorable either. Cate Blanchett is immaculate and Rooney Mara is very good too. It is directed, ah, adroitly and I have no complaints.