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dvejr
Reviews
The Counselor (2013)
Major Disappointment
I won't bother reprising who does what in the movie - hundreds of earlier reviewers did so (though one turned Barbados into Argentina and a Ferrari into a Bentley.)
I'm not always able to parse good or bad acting from good or bad directing (of the actors) from good or bad screen writing. But this one seems clear - the script is horribly pretentious and murky.
I don't mind that characters don't know what's going on - that's like real life. But as the viewer, I want to know what's going on. (My favorite movie is Blood Simple, in which almost nobody actually knows what is going on, or even who is dead and who is alive.)
The whole PREMISE of The Counselor is contrived: we spend hours with this guy, in scenes where he is almost ALWAYS conversing with someone, and NO ONE ever utters his name? Not even his girlfriend/wife? What does this conceit add to the dramatic art of the work? The author is way too in love with men who are ghostly presences....
I never thought I'd hate a sex scene, but the 2 in the film did nothing for me. They add nothing to character development or plot, nor were they very sexy (in Diaz' scene with in (and on) the Ferarri, I only knew what she was doing because Bardem was describing it to Fassbender while we watched a flashback. On the other hand, there's a sunbathing scene in which the amoral animal played by Diaz gets just a little bit touchy-feely with the shy, almost-virginal character played by Cruz. Now THAT would have been interesting, dramatically. To watch one of these characters ensnare another would have been an improvement.
Demonstrating the adage about the "gun in Act One, corpse in Act 3", we have one character killed using a novel weapon that was completely gratuitous. The time taken to describe it to us earlier, and then show it to us later, was time wasted.
Some of the scenes in which a character goes on and on philosophically have the small virtue of at least fitting the plot: someone has sought someone's help, or asked someone's opinion, and they get it, albeit at great length. But the scene towards the end where Cameron Diaz dines with Goran Visnjic is a total waste of everyone's time. Her long oration tells us only things we've already learned about her.
The Descendants (2011)
A Little Off Key
I've only now seen this movie many months after everyone else. Many of the positive reviews I see here mention elements that I enjoyed, such as the very good acting by the young actress playing the elder daughter. I also agree with some of the negative comments - I thought it moved a little too slowly in places (too much scenery), and the attempts at comedy were a bad idea (Clooney running clumsily down the hill to a neighbor's house, the peering over the hedge bit, etc.) Maybe George Clooney is just too George Clooney to be believable as a regular Joe, but I was unpersuaded by any of his emotions: jealousy, betrayal, grief, anger, all I saw was George Clooney.
I haven't read the book, so I don't know if the story elements I disliked were introduced by the filmmaker. I thought it silly that Clooney tries to track down his wife's lover by just wandering aimlessly around another Hawaiian island. And his final decision about what to do with the land might have meant something to me - and told me something about his values - but it was ruined for me by the unnecessary plot twist that involved his wife's lover in one of the bidding syndicates.
And the ashes on the water ending was just too smarmy for words - the movie should have ended with Clooney's final scene with his wife.
I don't know why the lover's wife has quite the large role she does. Her final appearance makes her a candidate for sainthood, but the movie isn't about her, so why go through this? Maybe they just needed one adult female in the movie to be likable?
I kind of liked that Sid wasn't really as much of a jerk as he pretended to be, but nothing came of him.
dvejr
Crash (2004)
What Bothered Me
I really liked this movie, warts and all. I really did. Yes, it is a series of short scenes in which the characters are more charcoal sketch than oil portrait. Yes, it is too neat that most of the characters act poorly once, then not once. The NYTimes critic (who thoroughly panned the movie) said something about "showing us everyone is complex by showing us lots of characters with exactly two sides." I get it.
The first thing that bothered me happened right away - the opening "LA is a lonely place" crap. I think LA cares about itself a lot more than I do. It would have worked a little better as a closing monologue, but I would have gotten the point all by myself anyway, and aren't the truths the writers wanted us to see universal?
SPOILER - The second thing that bothered me - really REALLY bothered me, was that after one character loses control, grabs a pistol, tracks down his perceived antagonist and shoots at him, no one in the assaulted family calls the police. Sorry, Mr. Editor, the scene where the cops arrest the assailant needed to be in the film.
I LOVED the patter between the two young black men as they emerged from the restaurant. The bit about the bad service and the tip, the bit about who on the sidewalk was, or ought to be, afraid of whom, and then the wonderful "punch line" when the car jacking occurs. Loved it.
I liked that neither Brendan Frazer nor Sandra Bullock were even a little bit cute for even a second. Two selfish creeps!
I liked that the one schlub we thought was a totally innocent victim was revealed, after he was hospitalized, to be part of something transcendentally evil.
Great movie.
The Space Movie (1979)
Terrific!
I agree with the others who rave about this - it is one of my treasured old videocassettes.
Another equally great documentary is not listed here on IMDb. Here is a library entry for it I found on-line:
Format videocassette.
Title The Greatest adventure the story of man's voyage to the moon
Pub.info. Stamford, CT : Vestron Video, c1983.
Phys.desc. 1 videocassette (54 min.) : sd., col. ; 1/2 in.
Credits Photography, NASA ; editors, Steve Sabol, Phil Tuckett, Bob Angelo ;
narrator, Orson Welles ; music, Sam Spence.
Summary: Surveys the United States space program milestones which led to voyages to the moon. Includes NASA film footage and interviews with astronauts and technicians. Subject: Space flight to the moon.
Moon -- Exploration. Alt.author Welles, Orson, 1915-
Sabol, Steve.
Tuckett, Phil.
Angelo, Bob.
Alt.title The Greatest adventure, the story of man's voyage to the moon.
The Story of man's voyage to the moon. Standard# VA 2005
---------------- How can we get IMDb to add an obscure old documentary it has never heard of?
Doug
21 Grams (2003)
Best Acting, Worst Editing
I'm with Roger Ebert on this one: telling the story out of chronological order added nothing; it merely placed an impediment between the viewer and the story. The acting was AWESOME. If anyone reads these comments BEFORE watching the movie (I never do), I urge them to watch 21 Grams despite the unpleasant sensation in the beginning of the movie of not yet understanding what you're watching. Pretty hot love scene, too, if you can get past the fact, as in Monster's Ball, that the people making love are wracked by painful demons and using sex as a brief escape. Doug
Thief (1981)
One of my Very Favorite Movies
This is James Caan's favorite James Caan movie, and he is rightly proud of the acting work he did.
An earlier comment said: "Michael Mann's best movie, with James Caan's best performance. 'Thief' is one of the most underrated movies of the 1980s. The film works both as an exciting caper movie, and as a human drama."
I loved the wet, late night cinematography of the opening scene. This beautiful introduction features almost no dialog as disciplined professional thieves orchestrate a robbery while we hear the throbbing music of Tangerine Dream. This is not a "buddy flick". These crooks are quiet pros who do what they do for the money, not for excitement and certainly not to have fun with each other.
Caan's character has been to the edge (in prison) and lived. Surrounded by characters who know all the many Small Things, he knows the One Big Thing. As he tells an adversary who has underrated him early in the film, "I am the last guy in the world you want to f*%k with."
A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Like in the great film High Noon, every alternative to The Least Desirable Resolution slowly becomes no longer an option, and Caan's character has to decide who he is and what's his bottom line. He has to decide whether to stand up or to lie down.
Caan's character was wrong about a lot of things. He was wrong about living normally, and he was wrong to think he was master of his fate. He was wrong to make a deal with Robert Prosky's character. But he was right about one thing.
He is the last guy in the world you want to f*%k with.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
I Was Very Disappointed
Too many commenters here feel it necessary to slam others who don't like a film they loved. I saw comments here like "If you didn't 'get' this film, go back to watching Adam Sandler".
For the record, I'm serious about films. Since I am VERY economic with my time, I rarely rent poor movies. Yes, I miss some good ones, but I almost never find myself watching a movie I thoroughly dislike. I've only shut off one or two movies mid-way, and I almost shut TRT off.
I thought the screenplay was weak, and the "style" of the film was off. Devices I didn't like included the overt "chaptering" of the film, and the expository method chosen to introduce the characters. The casting was strange: Bill Murray in a small, unfunny role (at which I thought he did well), or Ben Stiller in a tense dramatic role (at which I thought he did poorly).
The entire effort smelled too much like a private joke. Apparently the Wilson brothers and the director have known each other for years, so I guess this was a vanity effort. You know the script isn't very witty when the costumes are supposed to get laughs: characters wear the same outfit throughout their lives, for example, and for a funeral red sweat suits are replaced by black ones, ha ha ha.
I gave it a "2" only because I respect Hackman and Huston too much to push the key with the "1" on it. The movie confirmed one thing for me: "Behind Enemy Lines" was not a fluke; I really, really do not like Owen Wilson playing ANY role....
Monster's Ball (2001)
Excellent drama - ignore the controversy
It is a shame that Halle Berry's Oscar (TM) win created controversy that will prejudice so many viewers who will want to find her performance lacking. She is excellent in this film, as is Thornton and Boyle.
Many negative reactions posted here call Thornton's character a racist. I wouldn't describe him that way. He is a product of his environment who needs to be prodded by his racist father to mis-behave. He appears to treat his black co-worker just like he treats his white ones, and the soon-to-be-executed prisoner's race is never an issue. Neither is he "poor white trash". He exudes blue-collar dignity in his work as a very senior uniformed prison guard. He mostly treats everyone he deals with politely, and with respect.
My favorite things about this film include the intra-family dynamics of the 3 generations of single men. None of these men seems to have the capacity to form any worthwhile connection to a woman. Thornton's character's ability to leap THIS divide is as important as his ability to bridge the racial divide. The secret of this screenplay is that it really doesn't matter a bit that the Halle Berry character is black. Thornton falling in love with a white woman would have been just as dramatic a breakthrough for his character, who has apparently never loved ANYONE. The sex scene is graphic but absolutely central to the plot. For me, the heavy drinking beforehand made it quite credible. I don't think these two would have fallen into each other's arms if they had been sober. But the alcohol and their shared anguish led them to something that transformed their lives.
I think this is an excellent drama, and I did NOT think it moved slowly, as some others here have complained. A lot of things happen in this movie, and the characters have a long way to go to reach each other.
Doug Ellice
Absence of Malice (1981)
One of my Favorites
I've watched this film several times; the interplay of good and evil is well-done. Newman and Field are terrific actors. Wilford Brimley steals the scenes he's towards the end. Extra points to the people in charge for avoiding the typical too-happy ending....