You might not need to see this movie about the plane that was hijacked and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania on September 11th, 2001. But after watching United 93, I felt closer to the events of that day than I did when they actually happened. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it again, but I’m glad I saw it.
Match Point is a slowly unfolding thriller that’s likely to have you rooting for the most dislikeable character in the movie. You’d never know it was a Woody Allen film (don’t let his name turn you off). It takes place in London, England, and there are no neurotic New Yorkers. I don’t know what the big deal is about Scarlett Johansson, but the filmmaking is brilliant.
I know An Inconvenient Truth isn’t really a movie. It’s a message about global warming and the end of the world in the form of a presentation given by Al Gore. But it’s solid science and it’s still worth watching — even if you think you already know everything about global warming. My only criticism: It was a mistake having a politician present the information. (My brother wrote a post about it too.)
Stranger Than Fiction is a funny and compelling story of an IRS agent who hears a voice in his head narrating everything he does as he does it, and with a better vocabulary than himself. It’s the kind of script Charlie Kaufman might write, but not so out of control. I didn’t know much more than this when I walked into the theatre, so I’d rather not say anything else. I don’t care for Will Ferrell as a comedian, but his intelligent performance here makes the fantastic element of the story believable. Good job. Good movie. (Dec. 5/06) I rewatched Stranger Than Fiction last night and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I saw it, if not more. The romantic element of the story is a bit too Hollywood for my tastes, but I guess I was too caught up in the fun of the movie the first couple times to notice that.
The Departed is the most fun I had watching a movie in a theatre in 2006. I haven’t enjoyed a Martin Scorsese motion picture for well over a decade. Now, with The Departed, he’s hit a grand-slam home-run right out of the park. It’s great to see Scorsese return to form at what he does best: the crime drama. This isn’t a retread of old territory like Casino. He does a few things we’ve seen before, but it’s fresh and exciting and fantastic. It may not be seen as his best film, but certainly one of his most entertaining.
I enjoyed The Squid and the Whale so much, I rented it twice over a two-day period and enjoyed it even more the second time. It’s the story of two adolescent brothers and how they react to their parents’ splitting up, and how their parents react. Their individual reactions are honest and weird and so real that it’s strange to find it all entertaining. Nothing seems exaggerated for dramatic or comedic effect. It’s a well-written story, well-acted, with likable but not entirely admirable characters, which is nice to see for a change, because it lends a sense of realism to everything that happens. This could be, and probably is, the story of a real family, and it feels that way. I like everything about this movie. I don’t know what else to say without giving it away.
Bubble is Steven Soderbergh’s experimental whodunit film that he describes more accurately as a whydunit. It’s experimental in that he uses real people, non-actors, playing themselves; the characters’ lives are so mundane that even when something out of the ordinary happens, it’s still completely mundane — and one of the most interesting films I’ve ever seen. Its authenticity makes it extremely watchable, not unbearably or depressingly realistic. It’s entertaining, compelling and dramatic — everything you want in a movie, minus the Hollywood.
House of Sand and Fog is a serious movie where you kind of get the feeling things aren’t going to turn out too good for anyone (which I normally can’t stand), but the strong performances make for a good movie.
Never Cry Wolf is the tundra’s less-epic version of Dances with Wolves. Kinda slow, but recommended for those who like the idea of living in the north. The main character (or Farley Mowat) eats mice (yup), and they look like real mice to me.
The best I can say about Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center is that I was able to sit through the whole thing without wanting to walk out. But I wouldn’t call it a good movie either. Patriotic Americans are going to eat it up. Everyone in the movie is a hero. We never see what it’s like to hear the bad news about a relative who died when the towers collapsed; we only get to know the families of the policemen who live. Then there’s the businessman / former marine who dusts off his old uniform and covertly makes his way to ground zero, as it was called, to look for survivors. What a guy! He’s not even signed up, but like he says to one of the men in the rubble, “You are my mission!” There’s an even better scene near the end where he decides to officially sign up to the marines again because, “Someone has to avenge this.” Great. (George W. Bush is going to love this movie.) World Trade Center may have some basis in truth, but you can’t believe anything Oliver Stone throws at you no matter how straightforward his direction is in this film; he still manages to put his fingerprints all over this one. It’s just another sentimental, flag-waving, I-love-America movie. In the context of the events of 9/11, that seems unnecessary to me.
I like M. Night Shyamalan, but I agree with Rotten Tomatoes: “A far-fetched story with little suspense and unconvincing scenarios, Lady In The Water feels contrived, pretentious, and rather silly.” It’s not a really bad movie; it’s just not a good one.
If Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line is a poetic masterpiece, then The New World is just bad poetry. It falls flat. Colin Farrell is miscast. I’ll need to watch it again sometime in a better mood and see if it grabs me.
I’ve seen the Townes Van Zandt documentary, Be Here To Love Me, and it’s not exactly great. As a big fan of his music, I had high hopes. But this documentary didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know about him, nor will the film enlighten many newcomers to his music. If the filmmakers’ intention was to present the life story of Townes Van Zandt, they only got it half-right by presenting bits and pieces of his life; they didn’t tell much of a story. The most interesting aspect of the DVD is the bonus material, unused fragments of interviews with Guy Clark, Emmylou Harris and others, along with performances by Townes and others who knew him. J.T. Van Zandt, the oldest son of Townes Van Zant, does a remarkable job of the song, “Nothin’.” He looks and sounds a lot like his father. Guy Clark recalls this story Townes told him about something he learned in science class in grade 3 (short MP3 clip, contains profanity). As the only biographical film of Townes Van Zandt out there, it’s worth a look, but otherwise it;s not a must-see film. Too bad.
Finding Nemo has fully-drawn characters (no pun intended), each of them perfectly voiced. Amazing renderings of underwater life and a script that doesn’t just give you a bunch of neat stuff to look at, but actually tells a worthwhile story. Great for kids and adults, even if you only watch a few scenes from it now and again.
I agree with everything Roger Ebert says, that Red River is a film that captures “the exhilaration of being on a horse under the big sky with a job to do and a paycheck at the other end. [It is] one of the greatest of all Westerns…” It’s a bit chauvinist in its portrayal of women, but it’s easy to overlook such qualities because it is so damn entertaining.
3-Iron tells the story of a guy who spends his time breaking into and living in houses where he knows the owners are on vacation. He always cleans and tidies up the house, then leaves a token of appreciation behind. Inevitably he breaks into a house where someone is home, and I don’t want to say what happens next, but it’s magical. The director, Ki-duk Kim, who directed one of my favourite movies from last year, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, likes to create characters who develop relationships in a non-verbal manner — and he makes it work. The two main characters of this film don’t speak a single word to each other, yet you know exactly how they feel about each other. It’s pure fantasy, of course, but pure cinema, too, in that you’re drawn into the story, into the lives and feelings of the characters, simply by watching them be together. It’s magical and compelling and dramatic and tragic and funny, and I know I’m going to like this movie more every time I watch it.
Little Miss Sunshine is an enjoyable movie about a dysfunctional family that travels across the country in a VW bus. Such well-realized characters that it’s a pleasure to watch them act off one another. There’s an uncle recovering from a suicide attempt who’s just moved in with the family. There’s a belligerent but lovable grandfather living in the basement. There’s an adolescent son full of existential angst who’s sworn a vow of silence. There’s a father trying to redefine himself as a motivational speaker. There’s the mother trying to stay calm in the midst of all this. And there’s a sweet little daughter who just got accepted into a beauty contest. It might be a bit too quirky and contrived for some, but if you’re not feeling too critical and you’re in the right mood, it works as feel-good movie.
Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers is the peak of Wallace and Gromit, more entertaining than the recent theatrical release. Funnier, creepier, moodier, ominous, and a good time all around. The penguin is pure evil.
Eyes Wide Shut is an artsy-fartsy, weird and pretentious film. I hear you. With Tom Cruise. Yeah, I hear that too. But I still think it’s Kubrick’s best-directed film. And, as with most of his movies, it requires more than a single viewing to fully appreciate it.
I’m not a fan of Kevin Costner, but Dances with Wolves is a good movie. I doubt a better portrait of Native North American life has ever been filmed. You feel like you’re there with them out on the plains. The dragged-out love story is its only downfall. The leisurely pace of the movie otherwise is just right.