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Reviews
Mystery Train (1989)
Not bad, not great, sometimes entertaining comic book caricature America.
This director has lots of fans. His films are often held up as anti-Hollywood depictions of America as truth. Which is too bad. Jarmusch draws his world inhabited by little more than cartoon caricatures. As a comedy this works to some degree. I've heard fans say his films portray truth, but if so that truth might just be that life is circular, offering little capacity for emotional commitment or change. There are few authentic, multidimensional characters in this comedy. The film uses this to advantage, and there is def. a small but dedicated market that enjoys this sort of film.
Of course if you're reading this you probably already know the structure of the film. Comedy built on a multi-plot design, with predominantly mini-plot elements. The film plays 3 stories, skeletally interwoven in time (the radio dj sequences), space (the hotel), and by relationships (a couple recently broken-up). Interesting at times, boring at times, this viewer is glad the film and others in the anti-Hollywood genre exist, but there may be a room in hell where a they play over and over for eternity.
Tron: Legacy (2010)
5 for the effects, 0 for the story
TRON feels like it was written by committee, and I suspect it was.
But with all that money in effects, who needs a coherent story?
The effects are dazzling.
Brings up a good point. If there are many fx in a film, would a story get in the way of that?
Or, is a good story just superfluous? Does anyone really have the attention span for it anyway?
I say, yea, we do!! We would like a good story. We'd like to care about the characters. The effects are nice though, gotta give them that.
If it only had a writer to match the effects.
Little Children (2006)
Potentially great movie with fatally flawed ending
Saw this on late night TV, and it was captivating.
Great acting, good story, and good photography and editing.
So much promise in this film, with great acting, and finely drawn characters which unfortunately makes the ending fatally flawed.
The male character would never be distracted in the way he was on his way to a life changing event. Never, in a million years.
The other male character would not do what he did with the kitchen knife either, not in a million years. Flawed ending negates so much good work. Sad. Turn the movie off 5 minutes before the credits, and it's a fine film!
Antychryst (2002)
Very scary, great storytelling, and a short with courage
Couldn't stop watching this once it started. Stumbled into it, and images from it are still in my mind.
The desolate landscape is a mining location, well chosen for many reasons. The destruction of the landscape to bring out precious metals is a great metaphor.
The places these characters reside both physically and mentally are frightening.
This film has the rare capacity to touch a dark but sacred part in the mind of this viewer at least, which is ironic considering the title.
Bravo. Well done.
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
I feel it fading already. That's OK with me.
I'd heard a lot of good things about it, but it seems like it's two movies maybe? The Rocky stuff, and then the post-injury stuff.
Even with the seriousness of the subject matter, it still feels like pap.
The technical part of the film was OK thought. The film looked pretty good I mean, and sounded good.
Serious stuff predigested into pap for us, a cast full of stars like this, and technical competence to boot. Achademy Award material! Oh well. One of the beauties about cinema is that there's something for everyone. This kind of thing just isn't for me. I feel it leaving me already, and I just watched it. That's OK by me.
Red Dragon (2002)
Better try for the gravy train than the last one, but...
Red Dragon is yet another try to recapture the box office success of Silence of the Lambs. Ironically the last movie in the series was pretty bad but made a lot of money anyway, thanks to the draw of Anthony Hopkins as you know who. Hopkins brings the character back to the dungeon/hospital where he belongs and Red Dragon isn't as bad as Hannibal. It seems bad, probably because of the promise of a great movie that the material could provide. I left the movie daydreaming of the ways to make this movie better, and there are a lot of ways to make this movie better. The movie seems poor in the light of what is possible with the Hopkins character, but like Hannibal himself says-that's the burdon of an imagination, otherwise we'd be like the other dullards. He says something like that. It's too bad the people making these movies have lost the juice of the first one. But it doesn't matter if they advertise it well enough. The movie smells of a dull focus group cuddling up to the advertising department. The ending is terrible.
You may want to see this one if you're a Hannibal fan, but you might be just as glad if you miss this one, and watch Silence of the Lambs again. That one had a good ending.
Minority Report (2002)
Average sci-fi film sold as excellent.
Another example of an average film front loaded by advertisement and critical praise. A summer special effects joyride of the darker variety, with numerous holes in the plot. This film hints at a few good plot lines, but is unable to deliver. Look for the spiders, autos, and strange hybrid plants as eye candy. Not much else here that can hold up, but these days who cares? Some will enjoy Minority Report, some will leave their seats with that feeling that they've been had.