DUDE'S MOVIE ROUNDUP
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
Very good updating of a classic. Smart and compelling. I have never been a big fan of Denzel Washinton, but with this performance, I get why he is a star. I very much like the Liev Schreiber character and how he comes to understand his role rather than simply dismissing Denzel as a crank. Impressively shot and directed.
SHOW ME LOVE
Swedish film recommended by Swedish friend. Nice tone and good moments, but I didn't buy one of the characters - she didn't seem real to me. The pretty girl who succumbs to lesbianism in the third act was not pretty or rich enough to have the personality that she began the film with. We know by the end she will be kissing the girl, so the internal change in her seems overly manufactured.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Great visuals, and good blue-screen acting, and some nice camp appeal, but overall, it didn't hold my interest.
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY
Like a lesser Beatles song, this Coen Brothers joint is better than most movies without remotely approaching their own best work. Clooney gives a good performance.
WHAT THE FUCK DO WE KNOW?
Quantum physics goes mainstream, but not as good as nightly on the Science Channel. The film-makers present quantum randomness for two acts then attempt to impose a message in the third act that falls flat. I used to think that Marlee Matlin was a good actress and kind of cute, but after this outting, I have changed my mind on both accounts. Watch the online-archived THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE for a much better presentation of quantum physics.
CASTLE IN THE SKY
Japanese animation master, Hayao Miyazaki, of SPIRITED AWAY fame, cranks out thoughtful family fare. I have seen nearly all of them, and this is the only one that failed to hold my attention through to the end.
MAN WITH MOVIE CAMERA
A classic of the silent era, from Russia with love. I think I speak for all film lovers everywhere when I declare that silent movies just don't hold up several decades later. Maybe Chaplin is the lone exception, but so much has been done with film since its inception that these old "experimental" films are interesting only for archival purposes. The most interesting aspect of this film today is the snapshot of everyday life in the Odessa of 75 years ago which it provides. It surprised me how European the city looked. If you want to know why, RUSSIAN ARK is a must-see.
THE GIFT
Sam Raimi has made several overrated films, but none have been outstanding save for A SIMPLE PLAN, in my humble opinion. I have yet to see SPIDER MAN 2 so I will withhold judgment on that one. I found this film watchable but fairly pedestrian.
THE CORPORATION
This is a great documentary on the history and "personality" of the multi-national corporation. The filmmakers use a clinical checklist of personality disorders to indicate that the corporation as prescribed by law is a psychotic institution. This is a really great film that I highly recommend.
THE STEPFORD WIVES
Every bit as weak as you have heard. I thought there was potential in the first act, but I was confounded by Act III. After spending the first two acts convincing us that the women have been replaced by robots, suddenly in the third act, the women merely have brain implants which can be deactivated. How could they possibly think we could miss that? It is not even mentioned in the Frank Oz commentary. Maybe I'm the only one who noticed. I did like how there was one gay couple in which the flamboyant partner was Stepfored into a log cabin Republican.
KICKING AND SCREAMING
Standard Will Ferrell vehicle, very poorly written, shot and directed, but with a winning Will Ferrell center stage. I was amazed to find that Mike Ditka's role in this film was not merely a cameo, but a full supporting role as himself. He is very good and funny playing Robert Duval's spiteful neighbor.
MADAGASCAR
Kids liked it, adults found it tedious. Skip it unless you've got young ones hungry to catch up with their peers.
TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE
Amazing puppetry, funny gags, and a good lampoon of both sides of the aisle. The film would be even better if it wasn't so unneccessarily crass, although the seemingly endless sequence of puppet sex was pretty choice. A good use of obsenity was the rousing final scene in which our hero describes the whole world as consisting of three kinds of people - dicks, pussies, and assholes. I recommend this film to all but the easily offended.
PRIMARY COLORS
Too long, meandering and boring - at least there were no token evil Republicans. Good performances by all, but what is the message of this film - that it is okay to be a scounrdrel, so long as you acquire power with the intent of doing good later?
1 comment:
We're in a good groove where we're seeing different movies and it saves us from having to see them all.
Manchurian surprised me. I don't like remakes and I thought I wouldn't like the partisanship. I was gladly mistaken.
CRUELTY was one of those entertaining forgettable films that didn't have the mark of Coens and yet provided a decent amount of laughs.
My Team America review is coming soon. I think you hit the essence of what I felt.
I saw Primacy Colors in the theatre and not again until a late night showing in the last couple of weeks. I only saw the last hour and therefore wasn't put off by the length. It revealed something very honest about the nature of politics that I didn’t get before. Kathy Bates suicide is too blatant in its symbolism, but the feeling is an honest one. Her death brings home the fact that the Stanton’s may have been idealistic once, but idealism became a luxury they couldn’t afford when they needed to win elections. This is a problem for the left because liberal ideology suggests that people are naturally good and thus we can create a society in order to rid mankind of its problems. But if liberal candidates play nasty in order to win, why should the taxpayer or voter trust that nasty man to use government to magically perfect everyone else? After all, the problems in society are problems of human nature. And though the average Democrat probably does not consider this when voting, it seems to be one of the major points of the movie. Cliché Alert: Doctor heal thyself.
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