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Reviews
Beautiful Kate (2009)
Missed opportunity
There are many good things about this film. It unsentimentally depicts the harshness and bareness of outback farm life in Australia. It has some highly creditable performances from some top Aussie actors. The cinematography does justice to the setting.
The problem is the story. Instead of following through on a psychological exploration of some forbidden desires and their roots in this remote community, which is invited so longingly by the scenario, it contents itself with yet another portrayal of the struggle between a tyrannical old bastard of a father and his surviving son, whom he devalues. Both father and son conspire to turn their backs in denial of what could have been a revolutionary turn of events to match, gee, I don't know, Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf or The Homecoming.
A missed opportunity.
Vals Im Bashir (2008)
A kick in the guts for the price of a movie ticket
If you're expecting the standard action anime think again. Starting with the pack of snarling rampaging dogs that opens the action, this is one of the most powerful films I've seen, quite shocking, and the technical switch to real news footage at the end brought me as close as I've ever been to throwing up in a movie theatre. You'll see what I mean. The surrealistic power of animation is fully exploited in the dream sequences and flashbacks of this story which at one level is a psychological exploration of traumatic memory. But the film goes far beyond the personal and delves into a particularly nasty few days of the Israeli occupation of Beirut in 1982 involving an unholy collusion with, as I said, gut-wrenching results for humanity.
Will this win further enemies for Israel as one of the reviewers said? I hope not, and the courage of the film's official Israeli backers is appreciated. What the film shows is that we all, Nazi and Jew, Muslim and Christian, smart and stupid, are capable of some pretty inhuman behaviour if we allow ourselves.
The Dark Knight (2008)
More than an action movie?
This is an action movie first and foremost and as such I guess it's a pretty good one. If like me you kind of hope for something in addition to the car chases and explosions, perhaps a meaningful plot idea that relates to the human predicament, well, I think they tried hard to craft this out of the Batman legend but to be honest I don't think the latter has enough depth to yield a huge amount of satisfaction there.
The characterization is a bit beyond comic book - perhaps a 3D comic? The plot is really just comic book fantasy. The late Heath Ledger portrays a very creepy Joker spinning out of any sort of social control, though how he manages to organize all those drums of explosives planted around the city day after day beats me as he doesn't seem to have any sort of loyal gang (unlike the Mafia boss he usurps) and why would he have? If we're to take him as a real character then he'd be a loner who therefore wouldn't have much access to resources or assistance. And poor old billionaire Batman (though we're told it's very early Batman years, in fact pre-Robin)is reflecting on his wearying secret role, which Gotham City is decidedly ambivalent about. Not to mention the grueling physical pace he has to keep up and the cost of the technology which would make NASA look cheap.
I guess this is another post-9/11 civic disaster movie and I seem to remember hearing the Joker referred to as a terrorist on at least one occasion. However 9/11 happened once. The New Yorkers hung in there, to everyone's admiration. But the Joker has no supporters or ideological basis, and is simply dedicated to chaos. So by golly Batman if I lived in Gotham city amid all that recurrent carnage I'd be moving to New Mexico or somewhere within the week, and I'll bet I wouldn't be the only one.
Perhaps there is some sort of comment we can infer, which is the devil's dance between chaos and order, the interdependence of the two principles, and how this interaction is perceived at an urban social level. There is also the constant play on the significance of appearances versus concealment, the fact that appearances can be very incomplete and deceptive, and what is concealed is very dangerous indeed. And what the hell are the forces of good anyway - and are concentration of power and universal electronic surveillance justified (yes the film DOES pose these questions)? So certainly quite a dark and hellish atmosphere, and I don't think anyone feels any more secure at the end than they did at the beginning.
Looks like we'll have to have a sequel...
Zodiac (2007)
Scorsese, Hitchcock? Not even close.
The film was touted as comparable with Scorsese, even Hitchcock! Sorry, but it didn't even come close. The director was at his best with the gruesome murder scenes which were certainly chilling, but as for how the long term "cold case" was dealt with, it was at times only marginally above television standard, and I marvelled at how the various parties in the film maintained their interest when I was losing mine. There were also annoying Hollywoodisms throughout, for example the unlikely manner in which the resignation of one of the investigating cops from the homicide squad was announced to his buddy, which was timed for screenplay drama, not for realism. The characters were packaged and there was a high level of predictability in their development and behaviour.
There was little intellectual or spiritual fodder in this film. However it wasn't terrible, hence the 60%.
Babel (2006)
Interlocking stories and widespread locations make a satisfying film
If you like headspinning location changes and the challenge of tying together the waving strands of an intricate plot, this is a film for you.
As often happens with these films, the best acting comes from the middle eastern characters (in this case Morocco)and the least satisfying comes from the Hollywood ones (no there's no subversive message in that).
I do think one of the film's points is that our lack of understanding of others leads to calamity, e.g. the jumping to conclusions about terrorism or invasion when really all that is going on is some impoverished human beings trying to cope with their situation. Babel is confused communication, and confounded tongues, the most blatant exposition of which in this film is the young Japanese deaf-mute community. I think it's the first film where I've seen subtitles for sign language.
The Mexican sequences are also particularly convincing and it looked like a fun wedding.
One or two of the plot elements seem a little bit stretched but on the whole you could imagine the events in the film really happening. However the various calamitous outcomes of people's actions can be seen coming down the track for a long time before they arrive, which is fine for raising the suspense, but is that just for suspense's sake? But it's by no means a cheap thrills film and fills the bill for being intelligent and thought-provoking.
King Kong (2005)
Great special effects but we all know what will happen
The trouble with this movie is that EVERYONE knows the story before they go to see it, so it's almost impossible to create any suspense. This is a big problem for a creature feature. Not much chance of a spoiler here.
The special effects are really awesome and quite rightly account for over half of the end credits. Unfortunately I think Peter Jackson got a bit carried away with them. So we have one impossible escape after another from a bewildering menagerie of monsters and creepy-crawlies, each one too great a creation to be cut from the movie. Meantime the plot lies idling somewhere, and the running time mounts up and up.
Eventually we looked like getting off the island over halfway through the movie, and I was looking forward to seeing how a 200 ton gorilla was going to be loaded into a ship moored in a rocky bay without any equipment. But that remains a mystery. I know, I know, it's sci-fi, we have to suspend disbelief. But that's about the only suspense there was, and it never relented.
I tried to look for deeper meaning, but came to the conclusion that there wasn't much of a one. The attempt to recruit Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" was a long shot. And I always knew that relationship between the pretty blond and the giant ape wasn't going to work. Apart from the fact that society frowns on trans-species relationships, there are the practicalities - where to live, who will prepare the meals and clean the bathroom, that sort of thing.
If there's anything, it's that Kong was the last of his kind, a battered, lonely geriatric ape who didn't have a future. The best he could do was to share a bit of peace (not much) with his new-found little human friend. So maybe it's about succumbing to change and age. You can fight it but you'll lose.
One of the best things about this film was its visual recreation of the Depression era in New York, and the opening scenes did this marvellously.
I don't think it could take another remake.
The Constant Gardener (2005)
This is a very average story which is saved by its great local setting in Africa
There are three categories under which I judged this film.
The first is as a thriller. Verdict: not too good. The plot is a rather threadbare old story of David and Goliath AKA the impassioned little conscientious nobody versus the exploitative corporation in bed with a government, the latter unholy liaison taking advantage of the chaos and corruption of an underdeveloped nation. Guess what happens to the little nobody. And guess what more, there is a final come-uppance to satisfy the cravings of our consciences. Actually of course this sort of stuff does all happen (although unfortunately Le Carre's specific imagined scenario in this case is absolutely unconvincing because it doesn't make sense)- but there's no real comment or analysis here other than "isn't it terrible, but we can win out in the end". Come on guys, you sound like a republican president.
The next is as a romantic story. The characterization is nicely done by the actors, but by golly it didn't take the two leads long to get into the sack, and really the whole interpersonal setup is rather glib and formulaic. So not the best on that either.
The third category is as a celebration of Africa, and in this case we seem to be getting somewhere. The landscape scenes are great and even more stunning are the local township scenes with lots of presumably local extras. They give a sense of stubborn joy and strength in the face of the great burden of poverty and disease (and of course the systematically neglectful attitudes of the world's wealthy nations) suffered by that continent. So basically Africa saves this film.
Next time why not just make a doco?