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Reviews
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Great images, contrived, asinine plot - "exploitation" film?
I usually like Danny Boyle films for content, subtext, and technical style, but I can't remember the last time that a supposedly "serious" movie relied on so many contrived plot coincidences to build and resolve suspense. This movie was exotic and pretty but unbelievable, empty and asinine.
Please don't take seriously its depiction of beautiful, exotic 3rd world poverty. Instead this is a genre mash-up of the good brother/bad brother gangster movie with the Dickensian orphan rags-to-riches story. It does pretty well on those modest terms, but it's a colorful, violent fantasy, not a serious expose or a National Geographic documentary.
The use of police torture to build suspense in the first act (not a spoiler - these are the opening sequences of the film); stylized violence against children; reliance on prettified poverty and the exotic "other"; the gratuitous resolution of the "bad" brother's story arc: you know what? If this movie had been made in the 70s it would have been set in Harlem and today we'd call it "blaxploitation." This movie is about on the level with "Shaft" and "Superfly." There's just something about setting it in India that has blinded certain white audiences to the fact that this is a pretty stupid movie.
That said, Freida Pinto - and much of the movie - is stunningly beautiful to look at.
The Godfather (1972)
Looks good, has good acting... but number 1? Pfft.
Number one movie of all time? Come on there isn't much going
on here. It's strictly a movie for fans of "actors" and "great casts,"
as evidenced by the many user reviews that fail to find anything
else to say about it.
The story's long and dull, unless you happen to be obsessed with
mafioso and the little details of Italain Americana of the period,
which I must admit it captures well. But there isn't really any soul
or mystery to this movie. It doesn't really even try to grapple with
any issues. (See Casablanca, or even Empire Strikes Back, and
you'll know what I mean. You wanna see Brando acting? "On the
Waterfront." Now that's a movie with heart!)
I think the real reason it stays ranked so high is that even people
that don't like it very much (like me) can't give it much lower than a
7 or 8, because it is so strong in its acting, cinematography, and
mise en scene. Whereas the (few) people who don't get
Casablanca find it so antique and alien that they feel free to vote it
down with 1s and 2s. A real shame, that I think even Coppola
would admit.
Oh, I'd even recommend Apocalypse Now over Godfather. There's
just so much more mystery and human story going on. Godfather's just about some violent stereotypes rehashed with a
"redeeming" sense of "Family Honor."
Dead Man (1995)
Unlike any other film I know of...
...in its attempt to wrestle with the most basic metaphors of life and death, of creation and destruction, in a world with no apparent order. Just for ATTEMPTING these things, while staying within the constraints of a perfectly enjoyable narrative film, I think, is commendable in its own regard.
But that it succeeeds so well as both a fun and exciting film to watch, AND as a literate and philosophical rumination on: life vs. death, creation vs. destruction, culture vs. culture, purposefulness vs. meaninglessness... well, what can I say?!? This movie is something that I have to rent every now and again just to think about!
Despite the heavy literate subtexts stroking my intellect, this movie would be nothing without the great scene-chewing acting from Robert Mitchum and Iggy Pop, the balanced and sensitive star turns by Depp and Farmer, other memorable supporting characters, a host of great one-liners (some of them nabbed from the poet himself!), and a score that will haunt you. It's just such an enjoyable "movie" that I don't want to give any readers the wrong idea, that it's for even one second heavy-handed or dull.
And I must confess that I actually don't particularly like the director, Jim Jarmusch's, other works. I can't usually find the sort of moral or philosophical statements (even perverse ones) that, I think, mark great films like "Casablanca," "Vertigo," or even "The Empire Strikes Back." Sure, his movies are very "cool", but they aren't very critical (I recommend the cutting&cool Todd Haynes or Spike Lee for contemporary comparison) and I don't usually feel like they've changed me in any meaningful way. But, obviously, he poured his soul into this one, and I truly believe it paid off. This is one of those great works of art that has managed to change and reaffirm parts of my very faith and understanding of life. Thank you Jim Jarmusch! You go ahead and stay cool.
Torn Curtain (1966)
A string of deflated scenes... and one great murder!
This film has the best killing I´ve ever seen on film, but you have to sit through an awful lot to get to it: a clear-as-glass espionage setup; a string of deflated, suspenseless "suspense" scenes, and Julie Andrew´s perpetual look of "I trust him completely, but, what´s going on?" Ick.
After the killing, (which is just terriffic! Suspenseful, high-stakes, totally unique... I had never seen anything like it!) there´s just a bunch more of those deflated "suspense" scenes and some amusing European character types. For hours.
Definitely a candidate for re editing.
Raising Arizona (1987)
Funny on the outside, sad on the inside
I just saw this movie all the way through for the first time and found it far more disturbing than allegedly more "serious" Coen films (like Miller's Crossing and Fargo) all of which I adore.
Here, the Coens take such lovable comic characters (in some cases, mere caricatures) and give them totally believable, deep, strong, and admirable human desires.
When the characters attempt to fulfill their desires (by breaking the law, and, more importantly by being selfish,) they're relentlessly punished by a grueling onslaught of physical and emotional violence.
Now don't get me wrong. There's nothing disturbing about the violence. It's a very funny, Tom-and-Jerry style, cartoonish slapstick violence. It's hilariously funny, and the highlight of a thoroughly stylish and inventive film.
But the human reason for the violence, and the lovability of the characters, and their unfulfilled dreams, well, that's what disturbed me. It was just so sad.
But I always cry at the funny parts.
The Last Seduction (1994)
Post-Feminist Film Noir
This is a really fun and nasty take on the film-noir genre. The classic noir (Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Out of the Past) follows the male hero, usually solving a mystery or becoming entangled in one, at the center of which is a deadly woman: the beautiful femme fatale.
Here, the plot unfolds from the perspective of the femme fatale, in a dark, fun, and sexy way, as she schemes against and manipulates her bad-guy husband and a naive, if not innocent, sap. As the femme fatale, Linda Fiorentino is "all that" and more.
And, like the classic noirs, this one has a lot to say about the blackness at the hearts of women and men. As bad as Bridget is, most of the time, she simply gets what she wants by giving men some version of what they want. Which isn't always pretty.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
It's Wonderful and Full of Wonders
I rented this movie a dozen times in high school, and, because of it, I went to college to earn a B.S. degree in film. How's that for a movie changing the course of a life? My adoration for this movie shouldn't be put into words.
(P.S. No regrets! (About film school, that is.))
Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
unique and enlightening documentary chronicles labor strike
This movie is a must-see for fans of socially active documentary film, or for those interested in the American labor movement.
It sometimes loses momentum as it documents the details of a particular labor strike in a mining town in rural Kentucky; yet that particular strike yields many memorable moments, including flashes of violence and revelatory dialogue. The company men are deliciously slick and slimy, and their goons are so ornery, that it's easy to forget that these people are real!
Where this film is at its best is where it uses historical footage and traditional labor songs to tie the strike to the larger past, and also where it explores other details of these people's lives -health issues, living conditions- that aren't specific to the strike. In this sense, the film becomes an important historical document of its own accord; unique, compelling, and enlightening to future generations.
To Catch a Thief (1955)
Delicious, Underappreciated - A Gem!
Hitchcock at his quickest, funniest, sexiest, and most adventurous, made more delicious with a dark, telling subtext exploring subversion, romance, history, and personal myth.
True, its central mystery doesn't create the mind-bend of masterpieces like Vertigo or Psycho; and nobody gets all cut up in front of you, as in Psycho or the Birds. Maybe that's why this movie gets overlooked, by fans and critics alike.
But To Catch a Thief has one of my favorite Hitchcock subtexts, and the things you get on the surface aren't so bad either: Grace Kelly at her quickest, sexiest, and most adventurous; Cary Grant in similar form; the French Riviera drenched in sunlight; car chases; bikini girls; acerbic dames; and a solid whodunit all in one.
It's the wit of Rear Window and the action of North by Northwest. I don't see what's not to adore about this jewel of a film. Catch it if you can.
It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
The best musical ever!
I practically revere Gene Kelly as a minor deity, and this film is the reason why. It features some of the finest, most expressive dancing ever caught on film, including a a drunken roust-a-bout with his sailor buddies (garbage can lids on their feet), and a breathtaking, rollerskating expression-of-new-love sequence that, I think, far surpasses even the heralded "Singin' in the Rain." Besides the dance, the film is also quick and witty when it focuses on Kelly's big-hearted sharkie character, Cyd Charisse as his mental match, and the wonderful send-up of infant television and its dependance on corporate sponsorship. A gem all around, with one drawback: the video employs the dreaded pan-n-scan to make the picture fit your box, rendering many of the elaborately framed and choreographed dance numbers poorly represented, if not entirely lifeless. Can somebody fix this, please? I'll buy your d----d DVDs if you promise to do it right.