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October 2009
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July 2009
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July 2008
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June 2008
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May 2008
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January 2008
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A Civil Action (1998)
2.5/5
2008-01-25 23:01
We’re ‘doing’ the case in Complex Litigation.
Honestly, the character-driven drama of the film is far, far less interesting and entertaining than the details of the case as detailed by Harr’s book. If I weren’t already so intimately familiar with the case, I would find the movie very ordinary, despite some very good performances by some very good actors.
I have difficulty watching anything with John Travolta. It’s his chin. I keep thinking there must be lint or something stuck up there.
0.3
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The Simpsons Movie (2007)
1/5
2008-01-25 21:00
A movie for which I am glad I did not pay to see.
You know, I could deal with the hippie ‘viro crap. I could deal with the commie post-modernism. I could even deal with the unintelligent puns, sight-gags, and toilet humor. What I could not tolerate was the subjectivist, altruistic crap passed off as moral epiphany. Yuck.
0.3
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December 2007
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November 2007
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October 2007
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V for Vendetta (2005)
3.5/5
2007-10-12 23:00
V is an anarchist, so all the standard criticisms apply.
Very prettily done. But seeing a film adaptation really points out all the plot holes in the original work. I would very much have liked to see Evey put on the mask and cape at the end, like she does in the book. Would have reinforced the notion of V as an icon instead of a man. Oh well.
0.3
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Blade Runner: Director’s Cut (1982)
2/5
2007-10-11 23:48
I think I made a mistake in the Netflix ordering. I got the Director’s Cut, and it wasn’t how I remembered the movie. I don’t like the Director’s Cut nearly as much as the other version. This one is difficult to follow, brooding, ends badly, and places too much emphasis on the horrible score.
Also, the DVD looked like one of the first DVDs ever produced. It had a horrible pan-and-scan transfer on one side and an even worse, non-anamorphic, letterboxed scope transfer on the other. The whole thing was underscanned all around, so there were black bars on the sides, where there oughtn’t ever be bars. Boo! Fortunately, this film was very recently re-released on a four-disc special edition that presumably contains both the Director’s Cut and the theatrical version. The transfer will almost certainly be far superior, too.
0.3
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Laberinto del fauno, El (2006)
3.5/5
2007-10-07 00:13
I’m a sucker for a pretty picture. Seriously. Beautiful photography and stunning production design can earn a film a higher rating than its flawed premises might suggest. This is an example.
Sure fascists are bad. But the proffered alternative in this film is communism. No thank you. And the movie ends with the oh so typical altruist invocation to self-sacrifice.
Ofelia can be forgiven for trying to escape into her fantasies. She’s a child under the brutal thumb of a tyrant. There’s really no hope for her. And for that reason, the movie is really quite depressing.
But it is absolutely gorgeous. That’s why it ranks as highly as it does.
0.3
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Hot Fuzz (2007)
2/5
2007-10-06 01:44
Really just another buddy action flick. The story, from a character perspective, is highly recycled, and what little creativity there was (mostly confined to some right snappy dialogue) wasn’t enough to keep me interested in the development of the characters. Or lack thereof.
Even the false dénouement was entirely predictable. Perhaps the point was about “turning off,” so the convoluted, but ultimately rational solution to the murders had to be wrong in order to introduce the very simplistic, but highly silly explanation about the neighborhood watch people wanting to win the Village of the Year competition. Obviously, such tactics do not sit well with me.
Parts were enjoyable, especially the aforementioned witty dialogue, but the action scenes suffer from Lost Camera Syndrome.
0.3
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
4/5
2007-10-02 22:27
I wanted this movie to be longer than it was, and it was already two and a half hours long. Most of it is really wonderful. Normally, the “protagonist is a sociopath” genre doesn’t do it for me, but this lavish production from Tom Tykwer of Lola rennt fame succeeds in making me root for the bad guy.
Others have said the protagonist in this film is totally unsympathetic. On some level, I agree. Sociopaths are generally unsympathetic. But on the other hand, we do want to see the perfume completed. We want to see the extraordinary achievement. But we know this means Laure (billed as “Laura” in the credits) will get it in the end. This is the classic guilty dichotomy that is so common in film, and so commonly botched. Here, there is no real moral ambiguity. If you have to kill pretty girls to make the world’s greatest perfume, you don’t make the world’s greatest perfume. But Tykwer manages to temporarily intoxicate us, where so many others have failed, with the tantalizing aroma of a life’s achievement fulfilled that it is all that more satisfying when the villainous protagonist gets his comeuppance.
Photography and production design were extraordinary.
I really could have done without the orgy, though. I know it’s in the book, but seriously. Was an orgy really necessary?
0.3
