davidhaile Reviews

Frida (2002)

Fantasitc, but not for everyone

[10/10 · 23 August 2006]

If you have at least a partial appreciation of "artistic types", you may be able to get into the mind of the director and fully understand this movie. If you need to have all facts and events laid out in black & white this movie may go over your head. Many people will not "get it". It is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time! My wife and I watched it at a local small town theater. You watch it and bump along with the plot quite happy with the story, yet little things keep popping up that you don't quite understand. By the end of the movie, and especially with the last scene, we were totally under the spell of the movie! The movie ended and we were sweating! This director and the actress who played Frida are the primary reasons why the movie works so well.

My only regrets about the movie is the same one that I have about many movies. Just a couple of scenes in the movie mean I can't enjoy it with my parents (I'm 46) or my kids.

I won't go into the story here. I'm sure there are plenty of other places where you can pick that up.

As usual, I posted this review _before_ reading anyone else's.

Touching the Void (2003)

Zero action and weird editing make this a difficult movie to sit through

[4/10 · 19 July 2006]

I read and loved the book. It is a gripping story of perseverance.

I could not watch this whole movie. Seconds turn to minutes then before long a couple of hours are gone and you'll start thinking that you should have spent the time fixing the dishwasher or washing the dog. Each climbing scene takes a couple of minutes then it is off to another "personal account" interview with the actual people who the story is about. It switches back and forth very regularly and it eventually drove me crazy and I had to leave the room. My wife wouldn't let me fast forward through the boring parts. She liked the movie. I was hoping for some dancing girls or car chase scenes to liven things up.

My score is raised a little more than the above description might lead you to think because the mountain scenes with the actors are filmed really well. I could easily imagine myself there with the climbers. It was very realistic. I guess it is hard to squeeze 15 minutes of content into a 2 hour movie so I shouldn't be so hard on them.

If you know the story then the prolonged agony portrayed by the actors doesn't create any suspense like it might if you didn't know the outcome. The key word is "prolonged" which pretty much describes it.

Read the book. Forget about the movie.

Daddy Dave Fort Collins, CO

The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

Slow and boring movie

[3/10 · 10 July 2006]

I'm somewhat of a car/motorcycle nut and was really looking forward to seeing this movie about an amazing man and his amazing motorcycle. I wanted less personal relationship and character development and more details about the man and his dream. This is a chick flick with lots of warm fuzzy feelings. It is not a racing film. Anthony Hopkins did not play the sort of person that I imagined on a racing motorcycle. My vision is an energetic wiry motorcycle nut, not a slow couch potato.

Was this man really such a womanizer? That single fact dominated the movie. I will be investigating the history to confirm or deny this fact.

Of course the highlights were the actual racing scenes. It sure took a long time to get there!