Nearly all the brilliant improvements that “Casino Royale” brought to this flaggingly goofy franchise are undone by the last reel: vaguely compelling super-villains, female objects attempting vitality, fancy set pieces that are mere dressing this go around, worthless chase scenes that are laughably cut (I imagine the stunt men came back to see their work on the monitor with dropped jaws–you cannot tell what is happening, they should have used stop motion stick figures). Bring Martin Campbell back, he gave us “Golden Eye” and “Casino Royale”, don’t mess with success.
21 Apr 2009 • 7:23 am 1
17 Again (2/5)
14 Apr 2009 • 10:06 am 0
The Amazon is a river.
Jeff Bezos was on The Daily Show a few weeks back pitching the new Kindle® and touting the brilliance of their AmazonPrime™ program, which apparently provides you “free” two-day shipping for only $79.95 a year. Stewart’s hasty appraisal: “except it costs $79.95 a year”. When I see the “33% more free!” label or 10/$10 special that is really 1/$1, a part of me dies inside. I suppose there are marketing professionals sitting around boardroom tables loathing the reality that putting such spurious claims on their product actually improves sales, but I imagine that the majority are mostly dead inside too. So, I’ll parcel out my grief with the Consumers© too.
Sometimes our prophets have cable television programs and earn a wage mastering sarcasm.
Filed under: Uncategorized
• 9:19 am 1
Gran Torino (3/5)
Eastwood ends his acting career as a bad-ass racist neighborhood grump. As a director he often prints the first take, which can work well if you’re shooting veterans. I wonder if he should have given his younger bloods a few more takes though, some of the scenes are wince inducing.
9 Apr 2009 • 7:50 pm 3
Funny Games (3/5)
I really do not know what to think of this film. I peeked at the critics for some explanation and they were all markedly divided. I don’t think anyone thought it was just “ok”. It is either brilliant satire/criticism of the torture film genre or another of the sort. To Haneke’s credit, he doesn’t show the gore on screen like we all expect, but the menace is still there nonetheless. Nor does he deliver the justice we would hope for–not even close. So if you like this film, I am very curious what you liked about it. Haneke even drops the forth wall on occasion and has an alternate scene in the middle of the film–well, sorta, I don’t know how else to describe it. Whether these jarring narrative cock-ups are all part of the titular “game” or the director taking the piss, you can’t walk away from this one unruffled. I’ve been asking people if they’d rather create something that was good, or something loved and hated–most have said loved and hated. I’ll give this thing 3 stars (a “good” rating) for being so loved and hated, for taking a risk, and for screwing with the medium in a passionate and compelling manner. And, yet another minimalistic score that did the trick just fine.
8 Apr 2009 • 1:26 pm 1
Two Lovers (5/5)
A seemingly simple love triangle that illuminates how we love and how we are loved: we idealize, we let others idealize, we lust, we discount loyalty, we act like fools. If familiarity breeds contempt I now see why my first viewing of this made me squirm–I saw the best and worst of myself in many of the characters’ neurotic, passionate, confused, impulsive actions. Tons of data to analyze in this film for those of you who enjoy such cinematic/relational inquiry. I watched this twice in two nights and still hardly got my nails under it. If I say they don’t make ‘em like this anymore, I sound like a pretentious old soul–they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
Note: Joaquin plants one of the hottest kisses I’ve seen on film, or was it Shaw’s reaction to the kiss–no matter, worth the price of admission alone. (I sure hope Redbeard Phoenix is just joking about, or taking really bad uppers to get through the winter.)
7 Apr 2009 • 6:53 pm 1
Merry Christmas (4/5)
6 Apr 2009 • 1:50 pm 1
28 Weeks Later (5/5)
5 Apr 2009 • 1:16 pm 0
Dan In Real Life (3/5)
4 Apr 2009 • 1:12 pm 1
No Country For Old Men (4/5)
There is no score for this film, which makes me wonder if music is used as a crutch more often than not–a cheap and quick way to make a scene emotionally deep or haunting. As a musician I certainly prefer to have the visual experience augmented by sounds and chords, but when filmmakers can draw me in without it I am certainly impressed. The Coen Brothers make filmmaking look easy–as nearly all other directors prove, it certainly is not.
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