Tokyo Story (1953)
This is the final film on Sight & Sound’s top 10 list for me to see. I don’t think I would consider it to be one of the greatest films ever made, but it was a satisfying viewing experience. It is the sad tale of an elderly Japanese couple who travel to a distant town to visit their children in post-WWII Japan. Sadly, the only one of their relatives who is truly glad to see them and not preoccupied with the inconvenience this visit causes is the wife of their dead son (who technically is not even a relative any more). The whole film is a little slow moving, and I felt the third act was redundant, but overall it is an interesting look into Japanese lifestyle in the years shortly following WWII.
Iron Man (2008)
I haven’t read any Iron Man comics nor been interested in them and the trailers of the film weren’t terribly compelling, so I had very little in the way of expectations when I watched this movie, other than good word of mouth. I enjoyed it. There was a good balance of thrills, laughs, and character. It is by no means the greatest comic book movie ever made, but I would rank it slightly ahead of the X-Men films.
Spartacus (1960)
I liked the training sequences, the ambitious battle scenes, and the scenes showing the Roman officials debating how to deal with the slaves’ uprising. I did not like the overlong dialog scenes, the overabundance of characters to keep track of, and the pointless "snails and oysters" scene. Also the film wandered around for fifteen minutes, unsure of how to end itself.
Mean Streets (1973)
My roommate walked in while I was watching the movie. "What’s happened?" "Nothing." "You just started?" "No, I’m an hour in." And it was downhill from there. I have never enjoyed Martin Scorsese’s exercises in ugliness, but this one didn’t even have a plot to pretend to engage me. I should give some credit to some interesting camera work, but all the fancy camera work in the world is useless unless it is showing something worth looking at.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
When I watched this movie it was the most unique movie-watching experience I have ever had for one simple reason: this is the first time I have watched a movie for which I have tried to write a screenplay. A few years ago I started writing a screenplay for Prince Caspian mostly just to see if I could do it, and got about halfway through before I lost interest. But it made me keenly aware of all the problem parts in the book. Sure there were several things Adamson and Co. could have done better, but it was surprising how many times they took the film in directions I was trying to go. Overall it made me much more forgiving of every time they strayed from Lewis’ written word, and more often than not the movie was better for it. Now it will be interesting to see how they tackle the episodic nature of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Coming up next: movies inspired by a Broadway musical, an 80's adventure movie, a children's book, real life events, and nothing in particular.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
My 2008 Movie Odyssey - Part IX
I need to post these faster. There are only two months left in the year.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)
I did like seeing a conservative film taking the Michael Moore approach to an issue, this time being intelligent design versus evolution, but the downside is that it ended up preaching to the choir, with naysayers dismissing it as right-wing propaganda. I did think it was rather ironic that in the final interview with noted atheist Richard Dawkins, Dawkins was adamant that there is no God, and anyone who would believe in a creator is an utter fool, but he seemed quite excited that life on this planet started through alien seeding. Gee, that sounds a lot like intelligent design to me...
Carnival of Souls (1962)
I can see why this film is a cult classic. It has some wonderful visuals, and the carnival is rather creepy, but the story is the type of thing Roger Corman would cook up, keeping it from rising much above B-movie territory.
The Public Enemy (1931)
In my attempt to educate myself on early gangster pictures, I started with this one, and was not disappointed. James Cagney is at once both charismatic and utterly vile as Tom Powers, a young man who gets mixed up in the mob which leads inevitably to his death. I had heard about the shocking violence in the film, and was surprised at how little I was shocked by the whole thing, but that is because this one was the trend-setter, and I have seen a multitude of later imitations.
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
The visuals in this film are amazing. Jean Cocteau creates a wonderful world that exists halfway between dreams and reality, with the beast’s castle acting as one of the main characters in the film. Everything in the castle is alive, and the long corridors lit by dozens of human arms holding candelabras is wonderfully visually evocative. Even if you don’t care for the story, this film is worth watching strictly for its visuals.
Arthur (1981)
I had been told that Dudley Moore is one of the great funny drunks in this movie, but frankly I found him merely obnoxious and embarrassing. Fortunately for me, once he sobered up, he was quite funny. Liza Minnelli plays her standard free-spirited role, who causes Arthur to grow up just by being herself (as opposed to Arthur’s fiancee who is one of those annoyingly delusioned women who think they can change a man by marrying him). Of course the true great performance in the film is John Gielgud who is hilarious as Arthur’s British butler and manages to have an even drier wit than even John Cleese could manage.
Coming up next: 3 overrated classics (one vastly, one minorly) and two summer blockbusters.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)
I did like seeing a conservative film taking the Michael Moore approach to an issue, this time being intelligent design versus evolution, but the downside is that it ended up preaching to the choir, with naysayers dismissing it as right-wing propaganda. I did think it was rather ironic that in the final interview with noted atheist Richard Dawkins, Dawkins was adamant that there is no God, and anyone who would believe in a creator is an utter fool, but he seemed quite excited that life on this planet started through alien seeding. Gee, that sounds a lot like intelligent design to me...
Carnival of Souls (1962)
I can see why this film is a cult classic. It has some wonderful visuals, and the carnival is rather creepy, but the story is the type of thing Roger Corman would cook up, keeping it from rising much above B-movie territory.
The Public Enemy (1931)
In my attempt to educate myself on early gangster pictures, I started with this one, and was not disappointed. James Cagney is at once both charismatic and utterly vile as Tom Powers, a young man who gets mixed up in the mob which leads inevitably to his death. I had heard about the shocking violence in the film, and was surprised at how little I was shocked by the whole thing, but that is because this one was the trend-setter, and I have seen a multitude of later imitations.
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
The visuals in this film are amazing. Jean Cocteau creates a wonderful world that exists halfway between dreams and reality, with the beast’s castle acting as one of the main characters in the film. Everything in the castle is alive, and the long corridors lit by dozens of human arms holding candelabras is wonderfully visually evocative. Even if you don’t care for the story, this film is worth watching strictly for its visuals.
Arthur (1981)
I had been told that Dudley Moore is one of the great funny drunks in this movie, but frankly I found him merely obnoxious and embarrassing. Fortunately for me, once he sobered up, he was quite funny. Liza Minnelli plays her standard free-spirited role, who causes Arthur to grow up just by being herself (as opposed to Arthur’s fiancee who is one of those annoyingly delusioned women who think they can change a man by marrying him). Of course the true great performance in the film is John Gielgud who is hilarious as Arthur’s British butler and manages to have an even drier wit than even John Cleese could manage.
Coming up next: 3 overrated classics (one vastly, one minorly) and two summer blockbusters.
Monday, October 20, 2008
My 2008 Movie Odyssey - Part VIII
The Natural (1984)
This fantasy/love letter to baseball mostly works, with a wonderful performance by Robert Redford and a great score. However, too many plot points are either contrived or completely unexplained for it to get my ringing endorsement.
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
This film has a lot in common with The Dirty Dozen, featuring a ragtag group of soldiers who embark on a potentially futile mission during WWII. However, with the exception of David Niven’s eccentric explosives expert, none of the characters are particularly memorable. The climax is thrilling, but the plot meanders too much in the second act.
Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001)
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but I was definitely not expecting an amateur production with unexciting slapstick fights, vampires preying on lesbians, Jesus joining forces with a Mexican wrestler, and the occasional musical number from out of the blue (one of which I am sure was inspired by "Every Sperm is Sacred" from The Meaning of Life). The production values are shoddy, the script is on par with your average student film, and overall the film is more dumb than sacrilegious (which says more about its intelligence than its theology).
The Great McGinty (1940)
I suppose it was groundbreaking in its time with its views on politics, but I didn’t find its social commentary particularly biting, and it was not nearly as funny as Preston Sturges’ other works. Overall it is a well made film, but disappointing when compared to the rest of the Sturges canon.
Hudson Hawk (1991)
I had heard conflicting opinions of this film: some have said it is a travesty against cinema (it did win the Razzie for worst picture) while others have said it is actually a good, fun movie. It has a couple interesting ideas (most notably using objects on site to facilitate the heists instead of having a backpack full of high tech gadgets) but is very silly (the bad guys are trying to reassemble a gold-making machine that Leonardo da Vinci invented and disassembled because it would mean the end of the world as we know it). It almost works as a parody of action films (akin to Last Action Hero) but is still fairly dumb and way over the top. Ultimately, if you are able to turn your mind off to the absurdities of the plot, you get a mostly enjoyable 100 minutes of forgettable entertainment. Think Van Helsing.
Coming up next: A couple rich spoiled brats who change after meeting a woman.
This fantasy/love letter to baseball mostly works, with a wonderful performance by Robert Redford and a great score. However, too many plot points are either contrived or completely unexplained for it to get my ringing endorsement.
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
This film has a lot in common with The Dirty Dozen, featuring a ragtag group of soldiers who embark on a potentially futile mission during WWII. However, with the exception of David Niven’s eccentric explosives expert, none of the characters are particularly memorable. The climax is thrilling, but the plot meanders too much in the second act.
Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001)
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but I was definitely not expecting an amateur production with unexciting slapstick fights, vampires preying on lesbians, Jesus joining forces with a Mexican wrestler, and the occasional musical number from out of the blue (one of which I am sure was inspired by "Every Sperm is Sacred" from The Meaning of Life). The production values are shoddy, the script is on par with your average student film, and overall the film is more dumb than sacrilegious (which says more about its intelligence than its theology).
The Great McGinty (1940)
I suppose it was groundbreaking in its time with its views on politics, but I didn’t find its social commentary particularly biting, and it was not nearly as funny as Preston Sturges’ other works. Overall it is a well made film, but disappointing when compared to the rest of the Sturges canon.
Hudson Hawk (1991)
I had heard conflicting opinions of this film: some have said it is a travesty against cinema (it did win the Razzie for worst picture) while others have said it is actually a good, fun movie. It has a couple interesting ideas (most notably using objects on site to facilitate the heists instead of having a backpack full of high tech gadgets) but is very silly (the bad guys are trying to reassemble a gold-making machine that Leonardo da Vinci invented and disassembled because it would mean the end of the world as we know it). It almost works as a parody of action films (akin to Last Action Hero) but is still fairly dumb and way over the top. Ultimately, if you are able to turn your mind off to the absurdities of the plot, you get a mostly enjoyable 100 minutes of forgettable entertainment. Think Van Helsing.
Coming up next: A couple rich spoiled brats who change after meeting a woman.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
My 2008 Movie Odyssey - Part VII
I know some of you are still waiting for the final Batman installment, but it's been much more difficult than I thought to drag the short circuits in my brain out onto the page. In the meantime, here are some movies I saw way back in February.
The Dish (2000)
This is a pleasant little Australian film that chronicles how the crew of a satellite dish in the middle of nowhere, Australia find themselves the center of attention when they are named the primary relay station for Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk. There are plenty of quirky characters to go around and some surprisingly dramatic moments as well. The film also wonderfully captures how amazing it was at the time for a man not only to walk on the moon but to then come home, and the uncertainty of whether we would be able to pull it off.
Amazing Grace (2006)
It is nice to see Hollywood making movies with Christians as the main characters, doing what they can to live Godly lives. I suppose it helps that our hero is both a rebel and a civil rights activist (two things Hollywood eats up). While the film is overall pretty good, there is no reason for the story to be told out of chronological order, and it actually takes away from getting a good idea of the ups and downs of William Wilberforce’s career.
The Edge (1997)
Man is his own worst enemy!
Dracula (1958)
(Also called Horror of Dracula.) While it sports lush colors and features the perfectly cast Christopher Lee as Dracula, it lacks the atmosphere of both Nosferatu and the 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, and lacks the sheer cinematic qualities of Coppola’s Dracula.
Pot o’ Gold (1941)
This is a fun little comedy bordering on being a musical starring James Stewart that is of little consequence but is enjoyable while it lasts.
Coming up next: A Razzie winner and one that should have gotten a Razzie.
The Dish (2000)
This is a pleasant little Australian film that chronicles how the crew of a satellite dish in the middle of nowhere, Australia find themselves the center of attention when they are named the primary relay station for Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk. There are plenty of quirky characters to go around and some surprisingly dramatic moments as well. The film also wonderfully captures how amazing it was at the time for a man not only to walk on the moon but to then come home, and the uncertainty of whether we would be able to pull it off.
Amazing Grace (2006)
It is nice to see Hollywood making movies with Christians as the main characters, doing what they can to live Godly lives. I suppose it helps that our hero is both a rebel and a civil rights activist (two things Hollywood eats up). While the film is overall pretty good, there is no reason for the story to be told out of chronological order, and it actually takes away from getting a good idea of the ups and downs of William Wilberforce’s career.
The Edge (1997)
Man is his own worst enemy!
Dracula (1958)
(Also called Horror of Dracula.) While it sports lush colors and features the perfectly cast Christopher Lee as Dracula, it lacks the atmosphere of both Nosferatu and the 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, and lacks the sheer cinematic qualities of Coppola’s Dracula.
Pot o’ Gold (1941)
This is a fun little comedy bordering on being a musical starring James Stewart that is of little consequence but is enjoyable while it lasts.
Coming up next: A Razzie winner and one that should have gotten a Razzie.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Batman Perpetuated
In this movie we see more of the battle between Bruce Wayne and Batman. The film is also an examination of crime, justice, and punishment. As the movie starts, things seem to be going well. Batman has just apprehended crime boss Sal Maroni. Harvey Dent wants to prosecut him to the fullest extent of the law, but Commissioner Gordon wants to try to broker a deal with Maroni. They have suspicions that Maroni is actually in the employ of a much larger crime boss (Oswald Cobblepot) but they don't have sufficient evidence. Dent has taken to carrying the coin that Bruce gave him around with him, constantly playing with it. Dent proceeds to prosecute Maroni, but during one fateful court session, Maroni throws acid in Dent's face, scarring his left side. Some of the acid also makes it onto the coin, marring one of its sides. Dent is rushed to the hospital, but runs out before they can do any sort of reconstructive surgery on him. That night he breaks into prison and confronts Maroni. Maroni informs him that he is working on a deal with Gordon to give him enough information to implicate Cobblepot in exchange for complete immunity, and because of that Dent can't touch him. Dent replies that he'll let fate decide. He pulls out the coin and flips it. It falls damaged side up. Dent kills Maroni and escapes. Two-Face is born, and now Batman is forced to track down Bruce's friend and bring him to justice. Meanwhile in other parts of Gotham, the beautiful Selina Kyle, catburgler extrordinaire, is inspired by the heroics of the caped crusader and decides to take up her own version of masked crime fighting as Catwoman. Of course she does things her own way. She will break into the corporate safes and send the incriminating documents to the police, but she keeps the cash and jewels that are also stored there. She ends up teaming up with Batman, though their's is a strained relationship. He doesn't like her using crime fighting for her personal gain, and she isn't too thrilled with his no killing philosophy. The each end up knowing who the other person is in real life, but that only serves to complicat matters. Selina likes Batman, but thinks Bruce is a loser, while Bruce likes Selina, but cannot condone her actions as Catwoman. This movie is also the one where we get the Riddler. I've always thought that the Riddler seemed like a Joker wannabe, so I figured I would play with that idea for this movie. We get Edward Nigma (who might have been one of Joker's henchmen) who decides that since the Joker is imprisoned, he is the heir apparent to Joker. He leaves clues to his crimes, partly to taunt Batman, partly to prove that he is so brilliant, he can still outsmart Batman even with Batman getting clues. (I'm not sure what happens to him in the end. Maybe he joins forces with Two-Face, but that seems a little too Batman Forever for me. Maybe he tries to join forces with Two-Face, but Two-Face just shoots him. Either way, he is more of a minor villain here.) Meanwhile, Two-Face is busy tracking down all the people who he prosecuted but received a "not guilty" verdict, regardless of their actual innocence. He lets the coin decide if they live or die. Batman (with the help of Catwoman) tracks down Two-Face, and in the final confrontation, he kills Two-Face. I'm sure many Batman fans would be up in arms about this, saying that Batman would never kill anyone, but the way I see it, while Bruce Wayne would definitely never kill anyone, Batman would. Bruce is horrified with what Batman did (after all, he and Dent were friends). Catwoman tries to convince Batman that what he did was right. "Think of all the people he would have killed, had you not stopped him." Batman tells her to leave him and never come back. The end of the movie leaves us with Bruce almost gone; serving only as the shell for Batman. This is definitely intended to be the darkest of the films.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Batman Continued
With the new Batman movie coming out this summer, I thought it might be interesting to provide you, my heroic readers, with the direction I would take the movie series if I were running things instead of Christopher Nolan, though using Batman Begins as a starting point. I'm also trying to figure out how to work several mainstay Batman characters into this more realistic world. Unfortunately, I can't come up with a good way of completing my story arc in just two movies (creating a Batman trilogy), so we're looking at my own trilogy (though if my movies are any good, I don't think too many people would mind getting an extra one). This was going to be just one post, but since I ended up being more verbose than I expected, and actually fleshed out the stories more than I intended, you get three posts over the next couple weeks.
Batman Continued
One of the running themes of Batman Begins (BB) is wearing masks and identity, so that is something I plan to play with here. We get Jack Napier, newly escaped from Arkham, who already has a thing for jokers. In response to Bruce dressing up as a bat, Jack dons the persona of the Joker, putting on makeup to conduct his dastardly deeds. But, in a confrontation with Batman, he ends up falling in the infamous vat of chemicals, which fuses the makeup to his skin, permanently giving him the ghastly parody of a grin, and of course pushing him even further over the edge. Meanwhile, Bruce starts to build a relationship with District Attourney Harvey Dent, and has a working relationship with him as Batman as well. I figure they are introduced to each other by Rachel Dawes, who then becomes on of the Joker's first victims. We are also introduced to Oswald Cobblepot, a short, fat man with pointy features who is the second-richest man in Gotham (after Bruce of course) and has a thing for novelty umbrellas. His Penguin Industries is getting a recent surge in revenue (and is threatening to overtake Wayne Enterprises as the largest company in Gotham) due to his taking over a large part of Falconi's underworld empire. He is here more as a villain for Bruce and Lucius Fox than Batman. There is some sort of shady business deal that Lucius and Bruce thwart, though Lucius is finding it more and more difficult to contact Bruce since he is spending so much time playing Batman. Batman uses his detective skills to track down where the Joker's hideout is, and as he is consulting with Harvey Dent and (not yet commissioner) Gordon about the final plans of assault on Joker's base, Dent tells Batman that since Joker is a mass-murderer, clearly a homicidal maniac, he would have no problem if Batman just killed Joker instead of apprehending him. Of course Batman is successful in infiltrating the Joker's lair, and in the final confrontation with Joker, beats him to a pulp, more brutally than necessary. As Joker is lying on the ground with Batman looming over him, he says something to the effect of, "Go ahead, kill me." Batman stops the beating, says "I don't kill people," and drags Joker off to the authorities. Joker laughs the whole way. He is locked in Arkham while awaiting trial, and as we pull away from Arkham, he is still laughing. Dent is upset at Batman for not killing Joker when he had the chance since the law will not allow him to execute someone who is mentally ill. In an epilogue we learn that Gordon has been named the new commissioner, and Bruce gives Dent a commemorative silver coin as a gift. In BB, Bruce creates Batman to be a tool to do the things that Bruce can't, but in this one, we start to see the Batman persona start to take increasingly more and more of his time and energy, pushing Bruce further to the sidelines.
Batman Continued
One of the running themes of Batman Begins (BB) is wearing masks and identity, so that is something I plan to play with here. We get Jack Napier, newly escaped from Arkham, who already has a thing for jokers. In response to Bruce dressing up as a bat, Jack dons the persona of the Joker, putting on makeup to conduct his dastardly deeds. But, in a confrontation with Batman, he ends up falling in the infamous vat of chemicals, which fuses the makeup to his skin, permanently giving him the ghastly parody of a grin, and of course pushing him even further over the edge. Meanwhile, Bruce starts to build a relationship with District Attourney Harvey Dent, and has a working relationship with him as Batman as well. I figure they are introduced to each other by Rachel Dawes, who then becomes on of the Joker's first victims. We are also introduced to Oswald Cobblepot, a short, fat man with pointy features who is the second-richest man in Gotham (after Bruce of course) and has a thing for novelty umbrellas. His Penguin Industries is getting a recent surge in revenue (and is threatening to overtake Wayne Enterprises as the largest company in Gotham) due to his taking over a large part of Falconi's underworld empire. He is here more as a villain for Bruce and Lucius Fox than Batman. There is some sort of shady business deal that Lucius and Bruce thwart, though Lucius is finding it more and more difficult to contact Bruce since he is spending so much time playing Batman. Batman uses his detective skills to track down where the Joker's hideout is, and as he is consulting with Harvey Dent and (not yet commissioner) Gordon about the final plans of assault on Joker's base, Dent tells Batman that since Joker is a mass-murderer, clearly a homicidal maniac, he would have no problem if Batman just killed Joker instead of apprehending him. Of course Batman is successful in infiltrating the Joker's lair, and in the final confrontation with Joker, beats him to a pulp, more brutally than necessary. As Joker is lying on the ground with Batman looming over him, he says something to the effect of, "Go ahead, kill me." Batman stops the beating, says "I don't kill people," and drags Joker off to the authorities. Joker laughs the whole way. He is locked in Arkham while awaiting trial, and as we pull away from Arkham, he is still laughing. Dent is upset at Batman for not killing Joker when he had the chance since the law will not allow him to execute someone who is mentally ill. In an epilogue we learn that Gordon has been named the new commissioner, and Bruce gives Dent a commemorative silver coin as a gift. In BB, Bruce creates Batman to be a tool to do the things that Bruce can't, but in this one, we start to see the Batman persona start to take increasingly more and more of his time and energy, pushing Bruce further to the sidelines.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
My 2008 Movie Odyssey - Part VI
Oh boy, I'm really behind on getting these out. I have about 15 more reviews to still release, plus another 15 or so to write. Must... get... cracking...
D-War (2007)
Where do I start with a movie like this? The story is silly, the screenplay is laughable, the acting is almost entirely wooden, none of the characters act believably, half the scenes end abruptly without any sort of reasonable conclusion, and to top it all off, it’s a story that is about Korean mythology with reincarnated Koreans, that takes place solely in modern day Los Angeles, with only one (minor) character who is Asian of any kind. But wait, there’s more! Not only is Los Angeles being attacked by two dueling dragons, there is also an ancient Korean overlord (who looks as un-Korean as anyone can look) whose sole purpose is to look menacing as a Sauron wannabe while he makes the blade of his sword appear magically from its hilt. He also commands hoards of undead soldiers that appear inexplicably out of nowhere and headquarters in a castle (wha?) that is another complete ripoff of Lord of the Rings. Of all the films I’ve seen from 2007, this one would make the best Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, and I fully expect to see a Rifftrax available for it very soon.
Silent Running (1972)
It is an interesting look at one man’s obsession, and the lengths he will go to to keep the things he finds most valuable from being destroyed. I liked the interplay between our hero and his robot pals, and the film has an interesting look. On the other hand, it suffers from 1970's minimalist story syndrome, and many of the decisions our hero makes don’t follow logically from the story.
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
The film tells the rousing story of a group of misfit soldiers who elect to go on a suicide mission during WWII in lieu of serving out their prison sentences. While we don’t get a full look at each member of the titular dozen, the film does a wonderful job juggling its large cast in a way that we still get to know most of the twelve. Lee Marvin lights up the screen in every scene, and watching the film makes me want to check out more of his extensive work. The film has a lot in common with The Great Escape: a war movie that feels like a comedy until the third act when the tension ratchets up several notches, leading to a sobering ending that still does not seem out of place.
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Once I was able to get over Freddie Highmore’s sporadically successful attempt at an American accent, I was drawn into a world where magical beings live just beyond our perceptions. The film has a wonderful visual flair to it, and the creatures get enough screen time to keep me from feeling cheated out of some good otherworldliness, but not so much that it felt like one giant CG lovefest. My biggest complaint is that in the end, when all the interpersonal family conflict is being resolved, it is done through heavy-handed, unnatural dialog, bordering on preachy. Remember, when it comes to movies: show, don’t tell.
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
I saw a high school production of the musical back in eight grade, and was interested to revisit the story. The movie started pretty well, with a couple imaginatively produced musical numbers (especially one involving lots of phone calls) but as the story progressed, there was less and less to distinguish it from other musicals of the time, and the Elvis Presley parody got old by the end.
Coming up next: A hodgepodge of films that have very little in common.
D-War (2007)
Where do I start with a movie like this? The story is silly, the screenplay is laughable, the acting is almost entirely wooden, none of the characters act believably, half the scenes end abruptly without any sort of reasonable conclusion, and to top it all off, it’s a story that is about Korean mythology with reincarnated Koreans, that takes place solely in modern day Los Angeles, with only one (minor) character who is Asian of any kind. But wait, there’s more! Not only is Los Angeles being attacked by two dueling dragons, there is also an ancient Korean overlord (who looks as un-Korean as anyone can look) whose sole purpose is to look menacing as a Sauron wannabe while he makes the blade of his sword appear magically from its hilt. He also commands hoards of undead soldiers that appear inexplicably out of nowhere and headquarters in a castle (wha?) that is another complete ripoff of Lord of the Rings. Of all the films I’ve seen from 2007, this one would make the best Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, and I fully expect to see a Rifftrax available for it very soon.
Silent Running (1972)
It is an interesting look at one man’s obsession, and the lengths he will go to to keep the things he finds most valuable from being destroyed. I liked the interplay between our hero and his robot pals, and the film has an interesting look. On the other hand, it suffers from 1970's minimalist story syndrome, and many of the decisions our hero makes don’t follow logically from the story.
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
The film tells the rousing story of a group of misfit soldiers who elect to go on a suicide mission during WWII in lieu of serving out their prison sentences. While we don’t get a full look at each member of the titular dozen, the film does a wonderful job juggling its large cast in a way that we still get to know most of the twelve. Lee Marvin lights up the screen in every scene, and watching the film makes me want to check out more of his extensive work. The film has a lot in common with The Great Escape: a war movie that feels like a comedy until the third act when the tension ratchets up several notches, leading to a sobering ending that still does not seem out of place.
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Once I was able to get over Freddie Highmore’s sporadically successful attempt at an American accent, I was drawn into a world where magical beings live just beyond our perceptions. The film has a wonderful visual flair to it, and the creatures get enough screen time to keep me from feeling cheated out of some good otherworldliness, but not so much that it felt like one giant CG lovefest. My biggest complaint is that in the end, when all the interpersonal family conflict is being resolved, it is done through heavy-handed, unnatural dialog, bordering on preachy. Remember, when it comes to movies: show, don’t tell.
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
I saw a high school production of the musical back in eight grade, and was interested to revisit the story. The movie started pretty well, with a couple imaginatively produced musical numbers (especially one involving lots of phone calls) but as the story progressed, there was less and less to distinguish it from other musicals of the time, and the Elvis Presley parody got old by the end.
Coming up next: A hodgepodge of films that have very little in common.
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