drosett Reviews

Knight and Day (2010)

A fun film

[8/10 · 15 July 2012]

Knight and Day is fun. It's one of those films where you have to be in on its rhythm from the beginning. If you like the first twenty minutes or so, you'll enjoy the film as a whole.

There are two reasons the film probably didn't work at the U.S. box office. For younger viewers, who tend to drive the box office, the stars are a bit older and their characters don't have much connection with the viewers' lives. For more mature viewers, the manic action sequences may seem pitched more for younger viewers, and the characters' love interaction probably seems too juvenile as well.

That said, for me the film worked. I am an older viewer and I'm probably more juvenile than others of my age. In fact, that's what I love about summer movies, because I get to indulge that younger side of myself.

The Tourist (I) (2010)

An old-fashioned star vehicle

[8/10 · 8 July 2012]

Nothing more, nothing less. It's an anachronism, the type of escapist movie that Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn made in the late fifties and early sixties. It's supposed to have a silly twist at the end, all neatly tied with a bow.

I just couldn't work up the anger and outrage that many reviewers have churned up about it. OK, so who would have guessed that Johnny Depp would be weirder playing someone normal rather than his usual weirdo roles? And who would really believe that Angelina Jolie would fall for an unassuming American math teacher?

No one. That's why it's fun, folks. Just roll with it, taking in all the wonderful Venice scenery while you're at it. Seriously, this is an elegant film from beginning to end and it doesn't matter that it's more than a little preposterous.

It's an escape, a European fantasy. Just laugh and enjoy it.

The First World War (2003)

Where are the real credits for this documentary?

[8/10 · 8 July 2012]

This IS a very well done documentary. In fact, it is so well done that it leaves me speechless that the credits are so poor, both in the original 10 episodes and at IMDb.com. Who, for example, actually wrote the series? At the closing of each episode, the series is credited as being "based on a book by Hew Strachan." Does this mean he actually wrote the script? If not, who did? Was it Jonathan Lewis, who was credited as the series narrator? Even more irritating is that NONE of the actors who read from diaries and other primary source material are credited at all. The IMDb site credits the actual historical figures, as if they were still alive to read out loud material that is now almost 100 years old! Very weird at best, and unnecessarily dodgy at worst.