Change Your Image
peeteo
Reviews
Inception (2010)
Powerful tech for mercenaries used pointlessly
Imagine that you have a technology that can change anyone's mind, that can change the course of the future. You are desperate to change your own life because you cannot see your children. But instead of using your transformative dream tech for that purpose you go to great lengths to engage in standard-issue corporate espionage. When you fail because you aren't as great as you believe, your intended victim serendipitously offers to help put everything right in your world. The apex of unbelievable contrivance topped by a literally incredible proposition. Six stars is charity.
Reconvergence (2012)
Masterful and visionary
I have seen and rated over 500 films and I have never seen anything like Reconvergence. I rated only five of those films 10 stars, and Reconvergence is one of those five. It is not only unique, it is uniquely brilliant. A description of the film sounds fairly prosaic. It mostly consists of four monologues presented by four people who are not only different from one another, but different from most people you'll ever meet. They present a range of provocative views on many issues--both timely and timeless. They cover evolution of humanity, history, memory, consciousness, time, mortality, nature, reality, virtuality, surreality, individual meaning and purpose in life--and more.
The cinematography is stunning and complements the overall flow of the film. The music is hypnotic and draws the viewer into the mind-bending verbal and visual tapestry. The stars' monologues are carefully intertwined by skillful editing; not so much to create a coherent, linear narrative, but to provide an impressionistic canvas that starts in the distant past and stretches into an uncertain future. Reconvergence is an absolute must see. Director Tyndall and team have created a visionary epic that will make its mark on the thoughtful viewer; it will change you for the duration (as one of the film's stars, Waite Rawls, might say) of both history and memory.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
The intellectual equivalent of a fashion show
I always love Tarantino's choice of music. This film sounds great. It also looks slick with beautiful people posing around the screen in cool outfits. And that's about it. I loved Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown for many reasons, including their cool understatement balanced by occasional way over-the-top excess. These are the cinematic equivalents of quantum theory and the Sidney Opera House, Kill Bill is the cinematic equivalent of a fashion show of polished and posing airheads--only with lots of blood.
Don't waste your money unless that sounds appealing. I won't see volume 2 since I suspect it is more of the same.
Lola rennt (1998)
Why should you care about criminal screwups? I don't.
This movie is representative of the genre of movies whose protagonists are screwup criminals. The crime they were committing blew up in their faces through a combination of their own stupidity and random chance (the theft of Lola's scooter). At least Lola and her boyfriend Manni care for their own lives, and they obviously care about one another; but it is very difficult for me to care about them. If you want to root for underdog losers, there are better films. Two examples that come immediately to mind are Boogie Nights and Trainspotting. At least the characters start as victims of circumstances beyond their own control who are mostly hopeless, but they aspire to do better. These characters are just fu**ups who are in a pinch because at key moments in their pathetic lives they couldn't control simple reflexive actions such as getting a pack of smokes, or running from the cops while forgetting the loot! The premise that dumb criminals are out there in the world, and in danger because they can't think straight, is entirely believable; but I simply do not care about these people.