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August 28, 2005
The Aviator
The Aviator (2004), Martin Scorsese:
I guess I should preface this by saying I don't usually take to biopics. Leo acted well, but a lot of his character seemed added to fit the real Howard Hughes and not because it fit his role in the movie, which I guess is the general rift between 'bio' and 'pic'. I still love Cate Blanchett though I'm not entirely sure what to make of her here. She does a great job of selling you on the completeness of her performance, but I have nothing against which to judge it, having only seen Kate Hepburn in movies. Unfortunately, I think she hasn't really reached anything of the caliber of Elizabeth lately*. (Her ten minutes in Ripley were great though).
7/15
*- Looking through her filmography, saw this. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Posted by bing at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
Chocolat
Chocolat (2000), Lasse Halstrom:
Miramax at its ugliest. Poor soulless Lasse manufacturing an Oscar-vehicle with both indie and foreign sensibilities. Ugh. The movie was terrible, too, adding injury to insult, adding absolutely nothing to the "cold community opens its heart to warm outsider" 'genre'.
2/15
Posted by bing at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
Suddenly Last Summer
Suddenly Last Summer (1959), Joseph Mankiewicz:
Liz Taylor, Kate Hepburn and Mercedes McCambridge is sufficiently enough manicness for TN Williams. It starts off tamely enough, fairly stiff I should say, but with everything it has going for it, it explodes at the end fairly well.
8/15
Posted by bing at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2005
The Fourth Man
The Fourth Man (1983), Paul Verhoeven:
Man, I love Paul Verhoeven. Starship Troopers was just on and I'm still amazed how good of a movie it is. I guess the mass of critics thinks praising Robocop (and in some cases Total Recall) is enough.
Anyway, I was in a movie rut and couldn't bring myself to get excited about anything to watch. I was in the mood for something fun and came across this. Any movie arrogant enough to name itself The Fourth Man seemed like it'd be the perfect stylistic overload. Apparently Verhoeven made this right before coming over to America, so at least someone noticed.
So it was the perfect movie for my doldrums; artsy fluff full of wit and imagination pushed to their limits. At least Mr. Verhoeven has the good sense not to take himself too seriously (which got in the way of my enjoying the similar early work of Lars von Trier. I'm not sure I really need to discuss what it was about; does it really matter?
12/15
Posted by bing at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)
Autumn Sonata
Autumn Sonata (1978), Ingmar Bergman:
I still get a kick entering IMDB URLs for old movies and movie people and getting something like http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000005/ (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000001/ for some reason is Fred Astaire).
I'm slowly going through my Ingmar Bergman education, and the mix of Ingmar and Ingrid Bergman (0000006, by the way) was too much to pass by.
I've said before that I can't get into the movie-as-play. I don't know exactly if it's the format or just the type of drama that usually comprises the play, or a mix. Bergman, of course, is well versed in both media and this tends more towards the stage than the screen. Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullman act out another Ing. Bergman family drama, and well, but I don't know. Maybe the screen isn't the best place for an understated acting exercise, better suited for bombastic productions or at the very least having the hook of phenominal cinematography and art design like Cries and Whispers.
7/15
Posted by bing at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
Mean Girls
Mean Girls (2004), Mark Waters:
Poor Lindsay Lohan. She would've been a star if she stayed like this and didn't get get all trashy lookin'. Next stop: Natasha Lyonne.
I'm still a little confused why she's still doing tween movies when Rachel McAdams has since established herself in widerstream movies [edit: Rachel McAdams is 10 years older than Lindsay? Well done].
The movie itself is from the standard mold of teen movies (more 80's than 90's), highlighting the pitfalls of high school living. Lindsay's just so damned charismatic it's hard not to like it. The movie gets a muddled when it starts really pushing the moral and whenever it tries to do the Comedy-in-Truth thing. Thankfully, the teen movie can do without being elegant.
10/15
Posted by bing at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2005
Hustle & Flow
Hustle & Flow (2005), Craig Brewer:
I want to know who's in charge of creating buzz. I assume there must be a person, because I can't see how as bad as this can do it on its own. Ok, it wasn't terrible, but when two of your movie choices for opening weekend are Hustle & Flow and The Island, you clearly expect the former to be better than the latter. Sadly, it wasn't.
As many, many other people have pointed out, Hustle & Flow is an amalgam of two movies. One is the Memphis neo-realism, showcasing a pimp's hard life (what AO Scott classifies as The Hustle) and the other is the Rocky-style triumph of the underdog as he goes from pimp to rapper (aptly enough, the Flow). The problem is, unlike Rocky, the two halves seem to come from entirely different film universes. Some domestic catastrophe will fill a scene to the brink with drama, then the group will be off merrily following their burgeoning rap career, suffering no ill consequences at all. I can't buy your hardship when it comes and goes depending on what the scene needs. Everything resolves too patly, as well; the filmmakers seem to back off when things get too rough.
Emily felt a little odd at DJ Qualls' inclusion in the film, as if it was a ploy to make the film more accessible to mainstream (read: white) audiences. I didn't really think about that, but I'd buy it.
4/15
Posted by bing at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)
The Island
Sorry for the lack of updates, got busy with school stuff.
The Island (2005), Michael Bay:
Ok, I didn't expect it to be good, but it could've at least been The Rock.
Man, it was a terrible movie. People kept talking about the smart premise (and it was, to some degree), but all sorts of stupid little shit completely sabotaged whatever sci-fi cred there was. I mean, they're in a virtual utopia; why are they drinking Dasani? And why are they surrounded by such amazing technology, only to be beset by problems that were solved by tech ten years old (they're using huge physical keys to get into the sensitive areas of the complex, keys; plus they lose Ewan Mcgregor and Scarlett Johanssen really easily--apparently a brand on the wrist is enough).
There were a couple strange turns. The product placement, as previously mentioned was forced to the point of the surreal. Ace Hardware owns a huge building in downtown LA? At the very least, it's nice to see Amtrak's future is well secured. Also, I noticed six people get hit in the head with huge metal objects before I lost count.
The acting was completely wasted. Ewan looks like he's having fun, but it seemed as if Scarlett's only stage direction was "look dumb". Maybe "tilt your head".
So it wasn't completely terrible. There is some elegant carnage, for which Michael Bay was always noted. Not nearly enough, however, to justify the rest.
4/15
Posted by bing at 09:57 PM | Comments (0)