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Reviews
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
I think I've seen this one before
Okay, a brilliant, but torn and drug addled genius, supported by an even-minded rational doctor pal, and a sexy woman who is sometimes his ally, sometimes his nemesis, solve a seeming impossible mystery.
Yes, this movie was basically a super-sized episode of House.
Downey's painted-on English accent was only the start of how miscast he was in this role. If you're going to re-cast Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth as an action hero, at least cast someone who doesn't sissy-punch with the side of his fist. A real punch lands the proximal phalanges, between the second and third knuckles, flatly on the surface to be impacted.
Yes, the art direction and special effects were breathtaking, but a decent video game these days has similar effects. I walked away very underwhelmed.
Sorry Guy! In the sequel, cast Hugh Laurie. At least he'd probably be able to land a punch.
Taking Woodstock (2009)
What's so funny about peace love and understanding?
The answer is: not much. The problem reviewers seem to be having is they were looking for a comedy in this film. Yes, some moments are funny, but the real point of this film, it seems to me, is to show us what peace looks like.
So many times in this film, conflict was approached and forgiven. Tell the press the concert's free? Today you'd be sued. In TW, the promoters agree! Beat the mob off with baseball bats? In any other film, they'd be back with hatchets. Here, get a tranny!
Everything resolves nicely, everyone trusts, no, loves one another!
Well, obviously there is no film in that idea.
And when Jesus comes back, his pilot will never see air.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Transportation by Film
The film does transport you to the slums in India, in a very real way. The contrast between the poverty of the slums and the (relative) opulence in which the gangsters live is echoed by the (false) opulence of the game show.
The major theme: "it is written" echoes the fatalistic Hindu theory of pre-destiny, while at the same time setting up the protagonist as a Christ figure he's the only character in the film who is pure and good.
Well written, well shot, and well cut, the film uses the traditional good-triumphs-over-evil theme as a template to view the religious and class tensions in modern-day India. And yes, Salim was right: India is a force to be reckoned with these days. It might behoove us Americans to get to know her.
Constantine's Sword (2007)
Dan Brown meets Michael Moore
On the heels of The DaVinci Code, interest among Catholics and conspiracy buffs alike has focused on Constantine, and the cruel bargain he struck in order to maintain power, while making Christianity the state religion of Rome.
This bargain has not been scrutinized closely enough and, to his discredit, Carroll did not explore this topic closely enough in the screenplay of this film.
We understand the central premise, but the tie between the Air Force Academy and the Holy Roman Empire was not made clear enough. Perhaps that is because there isn't a strong case to be made for that proposition.
We also understand that the Religious Right and their sponsors in the Republican Party would make their brand of Christianity the state religion in the U.S., but the reality is that the First Amendment is alive and doing quite well. Yes, it is under siege, but setting up straw men like Rev. Haggard actually cuts against Mr. Carrol's point.
A more interesting comparison would have been between Constantine and the current President Bush, both of whom have struck Faustian deals. For this film to really shine, it should have made the threat from the religious right come to life.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
A New Standard
It would be easy to criticize a war film produced with such zeal for recognition by one of Hollywood's most talented and ambitious directors. It would be satisfying to downplay the significance of a film (like Star Wars) that is wildly popular.
But the reality is that Saving Private Ryan, like Star Wars, is an inspired film created by a director at the height of his abilities. It is both a love letter to The Greatest Generation, and a warning to us younger folk that war is indeed hell.
The famous opening battle scene probably changed more minds about the utility and glamor of warfare, than all of Baez's and Dylan's protest songs combined.
Speilberg's bravery in bringing such a scene to the popular audience has rightly been rewarded by placing this film in in the pantheon of the best films of all time.
Lets hope that this film sets a new standard for the war film genre. Lets take the glamor out of war and leave it where it belongs, like on a beach where the only thing being blown up is an air mattress.
The Fisher King (1991)
Sell Out?
By 1991, Terry Gilliam's art as a director had matured to the point that his control of the visual was complete. He had developed his visual style to what may be a career high in Brazil, although his much-documented disappointment with the studio's support left one wondering where he would go after that.
The answer came with the Fisher King. Rather than succeed in dominating his own Red Knight, even after the more user-friendly Munchausen, he succumbed and took on Richard LaGravenese's clever but light script with a Hollywood ending that perhaps he hoped would bring audiences for the banal.
Only the Hollywood accountants know whether he was successful in this quest. The film was better than most, but to those of us who look to Terry for something more, the Fisher King was a bit of a disappointment.
U-571 (2000)
Banal
If the intent was to make a maritime follow-up to Saving Private Ryan, the producers of this film miscalculated in a big way. Compared to SPR, U-571 loses in about every category.
The writing was banal. I didn't care when the men died. With the possible exception of "Trigger," they just died. Mostow didn't give us the sense that these men had something to live for or that they died for something worthy dying for.
The direction was uninspired. During the standard (and by now trite) submarine-diving-below-specified-limits scene, the rivet popping and pipe bursting shots were no different than any of a hundred other submarine films.
The acting was flat. On this point, I will confess a predisposition against Matthew McConaughey. I find his southern accent affected, and his delivery inappropriate to the character's situation. Keitel and Paxton were better, but overall I sensed that there was a big casting problem among this ensemble: they didn't look or act like it was the 1940s. If heroes are ordinary men who do extraordinary things in extraordinary times, these guys weren't heroes...they were just guys.
Almost Famous (2000)
Love story
To me, the film was a love letter to the now dead spirit of rock and roll. There was a time when there was a certain romance to living dangerously and immorally. Now our entertainers must pass the same moral litmus tests that our politicians are forced to endure.
In the opening scenes, Lester Bangs tells the Crowe character that "its over." He was right. The film documents the period when rock and roll became a business. Shows became concerts. Tours went from theaters to stadiums. Sony stepped in and Chet Helms stepped out.
In 1973, though, there was still hope for rock and roll. You could see that hope fade, though, in the eyes of the Duane Allman character. Yes, rock is dead, but sometimes its worth putting a love letter on the tombstone.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Kubrick in the era of AIDS
Kubrick's work has always been topical. Dr. Strangelove addressed the cold war and government under the shadow of the bomb...very apt for the early 60s. 2001 addressed the space age, the computer age, and expanding consciousness...very apt for the late 60s. A Clockwork Orange addressed social degeneration and governmental social engineering...very apt for the early 70s.
Now he addresses sex in the era of AIDS. William and Alice Harford experience extramarital yearnings. Alice, the female, experiences these yearnings in dreams and fantasies. William, the male, acts out his yearnings, though never quite consummating his passions. William is warned that his pursuits can bring him death, but he presses on until impeded by forces stronger than he.
How perfectly fit this story is for rendition by Stanley Kubrick. His off-pace editing, eerie sound, and dramatic colors all evoke the dream state that this film is about. We dream about sexual liaisons, and we are safe in those dreams. Trouble comes when we act out on them, or even tell our spouses about them.
The social message is conservative, pro-monogamy.
The reference to Beethoven's opera Fidelio is particularly apt for this theme. Fidelio is about a woman who dresses as a man and enters into the service of an evil Don to find and free her husband, who had been imprisoned for resisting the tyrant's evil ways. In EWS, the husband enters the castle seeking to join (not resist) in the evil Don's adventures. The husband is rejected and is forced to go home, tail between his legs.
Perhaps that's Kubrick's parting advice to us all, in the words of Alice Harford: let's go home and [make love to] our spouses.