Actors: Nora Swinbourne, Esmond Knight
Director: Jean Renoir
The River is one of those movies that if I actually looked at what it was about before watching it, I'd say, '[Forget] this, I'm going to watch Ronin for the 27th time.' Its opening did no favors either, being incredibly heavy on narration, exposition, and sentimentality. What followed was a beautiful film, sweet and sad and joyous - a clear masterpiece that takes advantage of what film offers to an artist. Its deceptive lightness demands a second viewing (that I'm not going to give it).
Helping this film a great deal is the fact that it is actually shot on location in India, a seeming rarity for films of this era - a bunch of close-in shots and clearly fake matte paintings to represent 'scenery' would absolutely torpedo the magic of this movie.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Bonnie and Clyde - 1967 - 3½ Stars
Bonnie and Clyde is considered a groundbreaking film - not only did it break all sorts of cinematic rules and help to open the world of film for the freewheeling 1970s, it also supposedly toppled dowdy New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther - the paper saw fit to fire him when he continually trashed this movie, as it saw him as out of touch. Perhaps I'm also out of touch, as I don't see an unforgettable masterpiece here.
There's a lot of 1960's allegory going on in this movie, which I don't much care for - there's also a lot of mealymouthed morality. The film goes right up to the edge of saying that evil and sin are fun and sexy, but never quite endorses that idea fully. Faye Dunaway is however perfect as Bonnie Parker, and there's even a brief bit with Gene Wilder. All in all, certainly worth seeing, but the films it influenced I likely like more than the film itself.
There's a lot of 1960's allegory going on in this movie, which I don't much care for - there's also a lot of mealymouthed morality. The film goes right up to the edge of saying that evil and sin are fun and sexy, but never quite endorses that idea fully. Faye Dunaway is however perfect as Bonnie Parker, and there's even a brief bit with Gene Wilder. All in all, certainly worth seeing, but the films it influenced I likely like more than the film itself.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - 1966 - 4½ Stars
Actors: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef
Director: Sergio Leone
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is a film noir set in the Southwest, absent fast-talking detectives and mouthy dames. Oh, and it's in color. I guess that makes it not a film noir at all, but it still has that feeling - moral codes are slippery, if they even exist at all, and the first thing any character does upon meeting another is attempt to deceive him.
The cinematography, setting, script, acting and music are all top-notch - the film only loses a half-star for the suspense of disbelief necessary for some scenes.
Director: Sergio Leone
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is a film noir set in the Southwest, absent fast-talking detectives and mouthy dames. Oh, and it's in color. I guess that makes it not a film noir at all, but it still has that feeling - moral codes are slippery, if they even exist at all, and the first thing any character does upon meeting another is attempt to deceive him.
The cinematography, setting, script, acting and music are all top-notch - the film only loses a half-star for the suspense of disbelief necessary for some scenes.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Big Fan - 2009 - 4 Stars
Actors: Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan
Director: Robert Siegel
2008's The Wrestler, written by Robert Siegel, and Big Fan are sort of two sides of the same coin. In The Wrestler, Randy 'The Ram' Robinson was participating in these tiny wrestling shows in VFW halls - the question asked by Big Fan is, what sort of a person would go to see one of these shows? The fans are what sustain 'The Ram' - who are they, and why do they act as they do?
I first saw Big Fan in theaters in September - it holds up very well on the small screen. There is one gaping plot hole which I missed the first time that knocks this film down from a 4½ to a 4 - still, a strong performance by Oswalt and an excellent examination of the sports super-fan's psyche makes for a film certainly worth viewing.
Director: Robert Siegel
2008's The Wrestler, written by Robert Siegel, and Big Fan are sort of two sides of the same coin. In The Wrestler, Randy 'The Ram' Robinson was participating in these tiny wrestling shows in VFW halls - the question asked by Big Fan is, what sort of a person would go to see one of these shows? The fans are what sustain 'The Ram' - who are they, and why do they act as they do?
I first saw Big Fan in theaters in September - it holds up very well on the small screen. There is one gaping plot hole which I missed the first time that knocks this film down from a 4½ to a 4 - still, a strong performance by Oswalt and an excellent examination of the sports super-fan's psyche makes for a film certainly worth viewing.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Nashville - 1975 - 5 Stars
Actors: A Cast of Thousands
Director: Robert Altman
In my now 3 star review of Traffic, I mentioned that I don't care for ensemble films with multiple storylines, and listed all the ones I didn't like. Nashville, a film I originally saw in 2001, was left off the list because I actually liked that movie a great deal. I liked it even better a second time - it is a stunning achievement in film, jammed with memorable images and emotional scenes.
Nashville succeeds where those films fail because its exposition is so artfully done, and its characters are constantly interacting with one another; it ends up that we're actually being told one story. Making a film that manages this is supremely difficult - the fact that director Altman and screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury also manage to comment on politics, television, entertainment, love, religion, race, and American culture generally through these interactions makes it a must-see.
Note: There are a lot of scenes where people are merely singing; there's probably a half-hour's worth of music in the film. It still works.
Director: Robert Altman
In my now 3 star review of Traffic, I mentioned that I don't care for ensemble films with multiple storylines, and listed all the ones I didn't like. Nashville, a film I originally saw in 2001, was left off the list because I actually liked that movie a great deal. I liked it even better a second time - it is a stunning achievement in film, jammed with memorable images and emotional scenes.
Nashville succeeds where those films fail because its exposition is so artfully done, and its characters are constantly interacting with one another; it ends up that we're actually being told one story. Making a film that manages this is supremely difficult - the fact that director Altman and screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury also manage to comment on politics, television, entertainment, love, religion, race, and American culture generally through these interactions makes it a must-see.
Note: There are a lot of scenes where people are merely singing; there's probably a half-hour's worth of music in the film. It still works.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room - 2005 - 4 Stars
Director: Alex Jibney
Financial manipulation of the sort that Enron specialized in calls to mind two thoughts - A: How could these people be so greedy, self-centered, hubristic, etc. to think they would get away with it? and B: Wow, these ideas are kind of brilliant and it's really a shame this actually happened to people. Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room kicks off in shaggy-dog, pandering fashion, only to morph into a tight exploration of Enron's rise and fall. The combination of arrogance, hucksterism, and callousness demonstrated by Enron executives and traders turn out to be a ripping yarn - that again, actually happened to people.
The most prophetic words come at the end of the film, when it is warned that this will happen again. Perhaps not A+ propheting, I suppose, but still resonating.
Financial manipulation of the sort that Enron specialized in calls to mind two thoughts - A: How could these people be so greedy, self-centered, hubristic, etc. to think they would get away with it? and B: Wow, these ideas are kind of brilliant and it's really a shame this actually happened to people. Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room kicks off in shaggy-dog, pandering fashion, only to morph into a tight exploration of Enron's rise and fall. The combination of arrogance, hucksterism, and callousness demonstrated by Enron executives and traders turn out to be a ripping yarn - that again, actually happened to people.
The most prophetic words come at the end of the film, when it is warned that this will happen again. Perhaps not A+ propheting, I suppose, but still resonating.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Lethal Weapon - 1987 - 2½ Stars
Actors: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover
Director: Richard Donner
I'm too old for this shit.
I figured I'd plug a hole in my leaky pop culture boat by taking in the quintessential buddy cop film. I saw someone somewhere refer to Lethal Weapon as the perfect script and in one sense it is; Lethal Weapon is brilliantly escapist. Featuring good guys and bad guys (the film even refers to them as such at one point), the good guys kill the bad guys, some bad guys kill good guys, etc. The Oresteia, this is not - it's kind of like if Road House were set in Los Angeles and didn't involve bouncers.
It'd be really difficult for me to pinpoint the reason why I like, say, Die Hard, and why I didn't particularly like this movie, but I suspect it's just because Die Hard got there first. Had I caught this film in my early adolescence, I'm sure I would have enjoyed its many thrills and pithy dialogue.
Director: Richard Donner
I'm too old for this shit.
I figured I'd plug a hole in my leaky pop culture boat by taking in the quintessential buddy cop film. I saw someone somewhere refer to Lethal Weapon as the perfect script and in one sense it is; Lethal Weapon is brilliantly escapist. Featuring good guys and bad guys (the film even refers to them as such at one point), the good guys kill the bad guys, some bad guys kill good guys, etc. The Oresteia, this is not - it's kind of like if Road House were set in Los Angeles and didn't involve bouncers.
It'd be really difficult for me to pinpoint the reason why I like, say, Die Hard, and why I didn't particularly like this movie, but I suspect it's just because Die Hard got there first. Had I caught this film in my early adolescence, I'm sure I would have enjoyed its many thrills and pithy dialogue.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Cincinnati Kid - 1965 - 4 Stars, 1½ Stars
Actors: Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson
Director: Norman Jewison
I like to keep away from any criticism of a movie before I write my own review. However, today I decided to go on Wikipedia first - Wikipedia notes the similarities of this film to The Hustler. It may just be a massive hangover talking, but I had not even considered those similarities. The reason I hadn't is because The Hustler is a vastly superior movie in every way.
The Cincinnati Kid gets 4 stars for its cool poker sequences, which are filled with tension and reasonably well executed. It gets 1½ stars for being boring and making no sense away from the poker table. To me, it only takes one or two lines in a film to turn an archetype into a real character; sadly those lines were missing for most of the characters in this film.
Director: Norman Jewison
I like to keep away from any criticism of a movie before I write my own review. However, today I decided to go on Wikipedia first - Wikipedia notes the similarities of this film to The Hustler. It may just be a massive hangover talking, but I had not even considered those similarities. The reason I hadn't is because The Hustler is a vastly superior movie in every way.
The Cincinnati Kid gets 4 stars for its cool poker sequences, which are filled with tension and reasonably well executed. It gets 1½ stars for being boring and making no sense away from the poker table. To me, it only takes one or two lines in a film to turn an archetype into a real character; sadly those lines were missing for most of the characters in this film.
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