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Posted by Goro on 12/12/05 02:13
Watched a mess of movies on DVD this weekend, some of which I didn't
finsih.
PENGUINS - pretty damb awesome. It was so amazingly easy to transfer
human emotions onto these penguins. I felt like "hey, my lifeain't so
bad!"
MURDERBALL - kind of interesting but never really engaged me. Quad
Rugby looks cool, but there was little discussion about the game
itself, what strategies there are, why the US and Canada were so
dominant, etc. Main chars were all dickheads so it's not like I had
any sympathy/empathy for them.
BROTHERS GRIMM - I couldn't finish this. After about 30min or so, I
just gave up. Some very cool visuals but it was just so infantile in
many ways.
SERENITY - I'm not a Wil Whedon-ite. I liked Buffy ok, but there's
something about Whedon's dialogue that just drives me batty. I never
did really like FIREFLY, but i gave this a watch anyway. I liked the
storyline, I liked the effects for the most part. Hated the
characters, hated the humor, hated the dialogue. I lasted about 1hr.
Since the parts i hated are what many cite as reasons to love it, this
may say momre about me than the movie.
CINDERELLA MAN - MoviePig was pretty correct. it was a very good
movie, i suppose, although ultimately a bit hollow. I don't llike
Zelwagger but her performance was excellent, a totally transparent
performance (where the character shows thru with little interference by
the actor herself). Also amazing was Paul Giamatti, although he had
too many "Now jsut kill this guy" lines during the ultimate fight.
Crowe was very good if not entirely transparent and the char himself
was drawn as too one-note to really resonate. It was engaging and
enjoyable to watch; the emphasis on the family life and the effect of
the depression was very powerful, but much breadth of story seemed cut
off. Of course at a 2:20 orso running time, that's not surprisng. I
liked it ok, didn't love it. I still rank CRYING FIST above this
(although by now, you're likely tired of hearing about that).
MR HOUSEWIFE - Nice Dram/Com, kind of MR. MOM crossed with TOOTSIE.
Was too silly/slapstick at times fo rthe overall toneand lost some of
the effect of the strong message. Overall, was solid, but could have
been really excellent. Wife had little to do except be (kindof) a
bitch. Everything felt sort of flat. No real depth to anything.
AEON FLUX - Ugh. It really IS that bad. Charlize LOOKS great in the
part, but can't bring much to the role. just b/c she's a great actress
doesn't mean she can portray every role well and this really wasn't a
mathc for her. Story was all over the place and at times ridiculous,
although there were some interesting parts, they were glossed and
tossed. vIsually derivative and this really begged for a director (and
cinematographer/art director) who had visual strength (iain softley
would have been good, i thnk, as well as Proyas). Action sequences
ewre gawdawful as rapid cuts that might give Michael Bay and Ryuhei
Kitamura fits made all action nonsensical. SO much to pick apart, so
little to enjoy.
NEIGHBOR 13 - Oh dear lord. really fscked up and bizarre and cool
suspense/revenge/horror. The openeing sequence is particularly
mesmerziing. i love alot about this movie.
LAST LOVE, FIRST LOVE - Sollid romantic drama that is undercut by many
perfunctory "we're falling in love" scenes. Scenes don't follow
naturally and feel forced. Latter scenes once the couple have met are
more acceptable. Solid, but could have been great.
JUST LIKE HEAVEN - Oh yes, exactly what you'd think it would befrom the
trailer. From the trailer, you can almost write the screenplay and it
would be at least as good as this movie. Very formulaic. Very direct.
Not much going on. No chemistry b/w the two leads.
NapoleonDynamite's scenes were the best ones and they weren't even that
good.
And then I saw NARNIA at the beauteous Harkins CineCapri 70' screen. I
agree with all who say it was beautiful but hollow. Kids movie. No
subtley, no complexity, no real depth. Puerile and invasive score that
blatantly told you how you were supposed to feel. Poor acting by the
kids. Strange formality to everyone's acting kept everything at the
surface level. No depth of story, aproblem with the source material,
but still... Santa giving the kids weaponry was a bit... odd. The
aggrandizement and near celebration of War was a bit odd as well.
Granted it was a Just War, but still. White Witch was very good. Some
of the visuals, esp. during the battle, were wonderful. I'm not likely
to go see the next entries unless there's a new director.
-goro-
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