21 Grams(dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
REVIEW PENDING...
** out of ****
Showing posts with label 2003. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2003. Show all posts
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Oh One Legged Cowboys, Ballet, and Severed Heads...
3:10 to Yuma(dir. James Mangold)
I've never seen the original film so I can't compare the two. This is just a straight-forward modern western. It doesn't try to rewrite the rules of what a western should be and in a way comes off sort of bland and clichéd because of it. The film gets more lively in it's final 15 minutes and this is definitely the point where I became more interested in the film after a long period of disinterest. It's not going to blow your mind, but I still slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
The Company(dir. Robert Altman)
It's basically a low-key version of Nashville that focuses on a Chicago ballet company instead of the Nashville country music scene. This is his most visually elegant film and it's one of his few films to be shot on digital. The gorgeous cinematography keeps you interested especially when it shows the ballet dance scenes that go on perhaps too long. I don't have an interest in ballet all that much so it's probably more my problem than the film's. The story is charming, but it frustratingly takes a backseat most of the time for the ballet. With my frustrations aside, I recommend.
*** out of ****
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(dir. Sam Peckinpah)
It's a deranged near-masterpiece. It sort of gets silly with the whole talking to the head side of things, but for something this demented and strangely poetic, it's definitely a minor complaint. Warren Oates gives a hell of a performance in this. I might be underrating it, but I'd rather underrate something than overrate it. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
I've never seen the original film so I can't compare the two. This is just a straight-forward modern western. It doesn't try to rewrite the rules of what a western should be and in a way comes off sort of bland and clichéd because of it. The film gets more lively in it's final 15 minutes and this is definitely the point where I became more interested in the film after a long period of disinterest. It's not going to blow your mind, but I still slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
The Company(dir. Robert Altman)
It's basically a low-key version of Nashville that focuses on a Chicago ballet company instead of the Nashville country music scene. This is his most visually elegant film and it's one of his few films to be shot on digital. The gorgeous cinematography keeps you interested especially when it shows the ballet dance scenes that go on perhaps too long. I don't have an interest in ballet all that much so it's probably more my problem than the film's. The story is charming, but it frustratingly takes a backseat most of the time for the ballet. With my frustrations aside, I recommend.
*** out of ****
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(dir. Sam Peckinpah)
It's a deranged near-masterpiece. It sort of gets silly with the whole talking to the head side of things, but for something this demented and strangely poetic, it's definitely a minor complaint. Warren Oates gives a hell of a performance in this. I might be underrating it, but I'd rather underrate something than overrate it. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Oh 28 Days Later...
28 Days Later...(dir. Danny Boyle)
I should preface this by saying I hate fast zombies. They're the lamest trend in recent undead cinema. Yes, it makes perfect sense that when the dead rise and walk the Earth that they'd be as fast as fucking Michael Johnson, but since this film concerns itself with humans that get infected by a virus that makes them super pissed off instead of true zombies, it's much more believable and not nearly as ridiculous. The film actually doesn't really focus on the whole virus and the individuals infected by it all that much in comparison to how much it focuses on the survivors, which makes the film very engaging as a whole. It's one of the most emotionally satisfying "zombie" films I've seen and it's definitely one of the best. It's not flawless, however, especially with it's portrayal of the majority of the military characters in the film as stereotypical savages. There would be nothing particularly wrong with this if it was more fair and balanced in it's display of savagery like Day of the Dead, where it displayed most of it's scientist/civilian characters and military characters in an equally disdainful manner. Other than that, it's a near-masterpiece. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
The Simpsons Movie(dir. David Silverman)
It's a decent enough diversion, but it's particularly frustrating that it hits an emotional chord so successfully and then doesn't really follow through with anything nearly as poignant afterwards. That particular emotional chord hitting moment would be Marge's videotape, which was surprisingly incredibly affective for a movie based on The Simpsons, but you'd expect there to be some sort of change in Homer's character afterwards. I've actually changed my mind on giving it just a mere "decent" label and give it the full blown good treatment. It's probably the best animated film of the year outside of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters and almost makes me want to start watching the show regularly again. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Stardust(dir. Matthew Vaughn)
I would like to start this review with a quote.
"The stars, yeah, the stars. One shining star in the night shining brighter than all the other ones and I'm talking light years away, yeah." - Macho Man Randy Savage
What does this have to do with the movie at hand? Well, this movie is about a star that comes in the form of Claire Danes so when the opportunity strikes, you know... The best part is easily Robert De Niro playing a cross-dressing pirate. It's almost the equivalent of Ving Rhames's role in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and almost as funny just because of De Niro's stature as an actor in comparison to Rhames's, but due to a lack of screen time and being in a movie that isn't nearly as fun, it's not quite the same. The film's dependence on visual effects to create spectacle and audience engagement is easily it's biggest detriment. It doesn't really care about creating true emotional engagement through a human story, it just cares about creating overly fake images that are designed to make people go "awe" and it's not even successful at that. It should have focused more on creating flesh and blood characters instead of computer-generated images. Do yourself a favor and just rent The Princess Bride instead if you're looking for a light-hearted and whimsical fantasy film. It was merely average.
** out of ****
I should preface this by saying I hate fast zombies. They're the lamest trend in recent undead cinema. Yes, it makes perfect sense that when the dead rise and walk the Earth that they'd be as fast as fucking Michael Johnson, but since this film concerns itself with humans that get infected by a virus that makes them super pissed off instead of true zombies, it's much more believable and not nearly as ridiculous. The film actually doesn't really focus on the whole virus and the individuals infected by it all that much in comparison to how much it focuses on the survivors, which makes the film very engaging as a whole. It's one of the most emotionally satisfying "zombie" films I've seen and it's definitely one of the best. It's not flawless, however, especially with it's portrayal of the majority of the military characters in the film as stereotypical savages. There would be nothing particularly wrong with this if it was more fair and balanced in it's display of savagery like Day of the Dead, where it displayed most of it's scientist/civilian characters and military characters in an equally disdainful manner. Other than that, it's a near-masterpiece. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
The Simpsons Movie(dir. David Silverman)
It's a decent enough diversion, but it's particularly frustrating that it hits an emotional chord so successfully and then doesn't really follow through with anything nearly as poignant afterwards. That particular emotional chord hitting moment would be Marge's videotape, which was surprisingly incredibly affective for a movie based on The Simpsons, but you'd expect there to be some sort of change in Homer's character afterwards. I've actually changed my mind on giving it just a mere "decent" label and give it the full blown good treatment. It's probably the best animated film of the year outside of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters and almost makes me want to start watching the show regularly again. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Stardust(dir. Matthew Vaughn)
I would like to start this review with a quote.
"The stars, yeah, the stars. One shining star in the night shining brighter than all the other ones and I'm talking light years away, yeah." - Macho Man Randy Savage
What does this have to do with the movie at hand? Well, this movie is about a star that comes in the form of Claire Danes so when the opportunity strikes, you know... The best part is easily Robert De Niro playing a cross-dressing pirate. It's almost the equivalent of Ving Rhames's role in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and almost as funny just because of De Niro's stature as an actor in comparison to Rhames's, but due to a lack of screen time and being in a movie that isn't nearly as fun, it's not quite the same. The film's dependence on visual effects to create spectacle and audience engagement is easily it's biggest detriment. It doesn't really care about creating true emotional engagement through a human story, it just cares about creating overly fake images that are designed to make people go "awe" and it's not even successful at that. It should have focused more on creating flesh and blood characters instead of computer-generated images. Do yourself a favor and just rent The Princess Bride instead if you're looking for a light-hearted and whimsical fantasy film. It was merely average.
** out of ****
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Oh Burbank, California...
PTU(dir. Johnny To)
It's more of a crime thriller than an action movie since it only contains one shoot-out and it's not as overtly exciting as one found in a typical action movie. It's sound design was quite impressive with it's ability at creating an uneasy atmosphere. The film was filled with memorable set-pieces and I would label it a masterpiece if it wasn't for it's atrocious score. The ending was pretty underwhelming as well but it's much more forgivable in comparison. I highly recommend. Oh yeah and never underestimate the power of the beret.
***1/2 out of ****
It's more of a crime thriller than an action movie since it only contains one shoot-out and it's not as overtly exciting as one found in a typical action movie. It's sound design was quite impressive with it's ability at creating an uneasy atmosphere. The film was filled with memorable set-pieces and I would label it a masterpiece if it wasn't for it's atrocious score. The ending was pretty underwhelming as well but it's much more forgivable in comparison. I highly recommend. Oh yeah and never underestimate the power of the beret.
***1/2 out of ****
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Oh America & China...
The Bloody Child(dir. Nina Menkes)
I was expecting this to be in black & white since the stills on IMDb are in black & white and are gorgeous, but it was actually shot in color and looks quite amateurish. It might be due to the DVD's poor image quality or that's just how the film looks. It plays like a Kenneth Anger film stretched out to 85 minutes without a rhythm that becomes progressively faster and an ending that isn't reminiscent to a sexual climax. The film is fragmented and what the director is happy to admit in the interview on the disc presents it's "narrative" backwards. It's kind of hypnotic in it's showing little bits and pieces of footage in a repetitive manner, but it can become tiresome at given lengths of time. There's one stretch where it seems like the film was just repeating itself over and over and the whole cackling and reciting lines from Macbeth on the soundtrack made zero sense. It seemed like the director was attempting to make her film have more artistic merit with it's overt references to that play and The Bible. They really serves no purpose and the African footage, while interesting to watch, didn't make much sense, either, but it added to the film's oblique nature. The film was able to create something resembling a state of mind by showing pieces of it's "narrative" and was quite fascinating. It's repetitive nature made the film sort of dull especially in that stretch mentioned above and the feeling that the director tried to stretch her material to feature-length is simply inescapable. It's flawed, but I definitely recommend.
*** out of ****
Unknown Pleasures(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
The same problems that plagued The World plague this film: a running time that's overlong and a narrative that's a little overly preachy about the social and economic problems in the director's homeland. Platform was epic and sweeping with it's narrative given that it spanned what seemed like many years and didn't have to strain to present the social problems in China while this film's story much like The World's is small and contained making it seem strange when Jia attempts to include references to China's larger social problems in the narrative. As the young protagonists watch the news, the audience is expected to take this information about China and apply it to their story, but their story is so small and insignificant that such an assessment doesn't really yield any sort of profound results intellectually. It's obvious that the characters' aimlessness is mainly a result of society's defects as one character proves that he's not totally unmotivated by attempting to enlist in the military but isn't able to because of an illness. This aimlessness causes the characters' downfall, which is similar to the one in The World, and the audience is probably expected to be outraged given that their aimlessness wasn't totally their fault, but it's too heavy-handed to really register on an emotional or intellectual level. The film definitely has some great moments like a character describing the beginning of Pulp Fiction and the film suddenly transitioning to a night club with a techno song that uses a sample from "Miserlou" blaring afterwards. It's moments like these that make the film worth watching because they're self-contained and fit within the scope of these characters' lives. It has it's fair share of problems, but it's still good.
*** out of ****
I was expecting this to be in black & white since the stills on IMDb are in black & white and are gorgeous, but it was actually shot in color and looks quite amateurish. It might be due to the DVD's poor image quality or that's just how the film looks. It plays like a Kenneth Anger film stretched out to 85 minutes without a rhythm that becomes progressively faster and an ending that isn't reminiscent to a sexual climax. The film is fragmented and what the director is happy to admit in the interview on the disc presents it's "narrative" backwards. It's kind of hypnotic in it's showing little bits and pieces of footage in a repetitive manner, but it can become tiresome at given lengths of time. There's one stretch where it seems like the film was just repeating itself over and over and the whole cackling and reciting lines from Macbeth on the soundtrack made zero sense. It seemed like the director was attempting to make her film have more artistic merit with it's overt references to that play and The Bible. They really serves no purpose and the African footage, while interesting to watch, didn't make much sense, either, but it added to the film's oblique nature. The film was able to create something resembling a state of mind by showing pieces of it's "narrative" and was quite fascinating. It's repetitive nature made the film sort of dull especially in that stretch mentioned above and the feeling that the director tried to stretch her material to feature-length is simply inescapable. It's flawed, but I definitely recommend.
*** out of ****
Unknown Pleasures(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
The same problems that plagued The World plague this film: a running time that's overlong and a narrative that's a little overly preachy about the social and economic problems in the director's homeland. Platform was epic and sweeping with it's narrative given that it spanned what seemed like many years and didn't have to strain to present the social problems in China while this film's story much like The World's is small and contained making it seem strange when Jia attempts to include references to China's larger social problems in the narrative. As the young protagonists watch the news, the audience is expected to take this information about China and apply it to their story, but their story is so small and insignificant that such an assessment doesn't really yield any sort of profound results intellectually. It's obvious that the characters' aimlessness is mainly a result of society's defects as one character proves that he's not totally unmotivated by attempting to enlist in the military but isn't able to because of an illness. This aimlessness causes the characters' downfall, which is similar to the one in The World, and the audience is probably expected to be outraged given that their aimlessness wasn't totally their fault, but it's too heavy-handed to really register on an emotional or intellectual level. The film definitely has some great moments like a character describing the beginning of Pulp Fiction and the film suddenly transitioning to a night club with a techno song that uses a sample from "Miserlou" blaring afterwards. It's moments like these that make the film worth watching because they're self-contained and fit within the scope of these characters' lives. It has it's fair share of problems, but it's still good.
*** out of ****
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Oh 2003...
Less shaky since I've seen the obvious top three choices more recently.
2003
1. Lilya 4-Ever(dir. Lukas Moodysson)
2. Pistol Opera(dir. Seijun Suzuki)
3. Le Cercle Rouge(dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)
4. Platform(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
5. Millenium Mambo(dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
6. What Time is It There?(dir. Tsai Ming-liang)
7. Lost in Translation(dir. Sofia Coppola)
8. 28 Days Later...(dir. Danny Boyle)
BLAH...
2003
1. Lilya 4-Ever(dir. Lukas Moodysson)
2. Pistol Opera(dir. Seijun Suzuki)
3. Le Cercle Rouge(dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)
4. Platform(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
5. Millenium Mambo(dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
6. What Time is It There?(dir. Tsai Ming-liang)
7. Lost in Translation(dir. Sofia Coppola)
8. 28 Days Later...(dir. Danny Boyle)
BLAH...
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Oh Chris...
The United States of Leland(dir. Matthew Ryan Hodge)
This movie reminds of Babel because it has all these elements in its narrative that it could easily make a statement about, but doesn't deliver. The difference between this and Babel is that even though didn't say really anything, it still had a somewhat compelling narrative. The character of Leland is pretty dull with his constant philosophical musings that sound like they're deep, but are utterly pointless. That's how the film is as a whole. The most compelling aspect was Chris Klein's performance and his revenge subplot. You could see the director striving for something that he couldn't quite grasp. It would have probably been a better picture if the film had a judgemental view of Leland and focused on the family's grief. His act was senseless since he goes on and on about how he hates seeing sadness in the world yet he creates it by killing a child which creates suffering for basically everyone around him. It was quite flawed.
** out of ****
This movie reminds of Babel because it has all these elements in its narrative that it could easily make a statement about, but doesn't deliver. The difference between this and Babel is that even though didn't say really anything, it still had a somewhat compelling narrative. The character of Leland is pretty dull with his constant philosophical musings that sound like they're deep, but are utterly pointless. That's how the film is as a whole. The most compelling aspect was Chris Klein's performance and his revenge subplot. You could see the director striving for something that he couldn't quite grasp. It would have probably been a better picture if the film had a judgemental view of Leland and focused on the family's grief. His act was senseless since he goes on and on about how he hates seeing sadness in the world yet he creates it by killing a child which creates suffering for basically everyone around him. It was quite flawed.
** out of ****
Friday, March 09, 2007
Oh Rosie...
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon(dir. John Ford)
Dragged on at the end.
*** out of ****
All the Real Girls(dir. David Gordon Green)
Reminded me of my emotions towards Fat City, it obviously isn't the greatest movie in the world, but has a lot of heart. Not nearly as beautiful or grand as George Washington, but more intimate.
**** out of ****
Dragged on at the end.
*** out of ****
All the Real Girls(dir. David Gordon Green)
Reminded me of my emotions towards Fat City, it obviously isn't the greatest movie in the world, but has a lot of heart. Not nearly as beautiful or grand as George Washington, but more intimate.
**** out of ****
Friday, December 22, 2006
Oh Elephant...
Elephant(dir. Gus Van Sant)
In all honesty, I don't feel like I was in the right mood to watch it. I didn't find it boring or thought it was bad in any way, shape, or form, it is just that I felt the inability to truly connect with it. This is definately one of those movies I'll try to rewatch in the future. How I feel at the moment though:
*** out of ****
In all honesty, I don't feel like I was in the right mood to watch it. I didn't find it boring or thought it was bad in any way, shape, or form, it is just that I felt the inability to truly connect with it. This is definately one of those movies I'll try to rewatch in the future. How I feel at the moment though:
*** out of ****
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