bergsy-2 Reviews

Laurel Canyon (2002)

boring boring boring

[3/10 · 30 January 2004]

totally predictable plot (although the final few frames were nicely done), unbelievably banal dialog capped by McDormand's soliloquy to her son -- how such a great actress agreed to deliver such tripe is beyond me -- this movie just fails. I can't understand the favorable reviews.

Opera fans will understand if I say that the plot is less creative, more believable, and more boring than "Cosi Fan Tutte," and without the Mozart music there is really no reason at all to sit through this flic.

And what's with the supposed-to-be-sexy shots of the Alex character who makes love and goes skinny-dipping without removing her top? What great auteur figured that one out? Supposed to show the prudishness of the character who tells her lover "f*** me!"? Va savoir...

The Piano Teacher (2001)

Extremely well-done trite trash

[2/10 · 24 December 2003]

very well directed and acted; lots of creativity in the details of the plot -- BUT at bottom just a completely trite and predictable tale of the sexually repressed spinster who can't handle the conflicts in her life and goes crazy. By about half way to the end, it clearly had to end either in her death or her committment to an insane asylum (as, we are informed, happened to her father!!).

This is nothing but a well-done exploitation flick, trading on the soft porno scenes to attract an audience.

Anyhow there was a lot of nice music from time to time...

Minority Report (2002)

an interesting opportunity lost in special effects and glitz

[2/10 · 17 May 2003]

This is the first time I've been happy for Philip K Dick that he didn't live to see one of his stories made into a movie. Androids and Electic Sheep -- Blade Runner -- got ruined with the Hollywood ending but was stunning and provocative anyway. And then the "director's cut" fixed it. Remember for you Wholesale -- Total Recall -- got expanded almost completely away from the story, and the interest groups as well as the individual characters got simplified to the point of nonsense, but watching Arnold Agonize (his tormented face alone was worth the price of admission) and then kick ass was still fun. But this one?!?!?

A fascinating approach to guilt and innocence, free will or determinism, individual rights (as we know them, anyway) vs. a policelman's view of how society should be run -- all mushed up with machines and men that fly through the air, ETs that float in water and see future murders -- And Tom Cruise, who elsewhere has been a fine actor as well as great eye candy, just mugs away. The whole thing is cheap trash. Too bad, Phil...

Pola X (1999)

excruciatingly boring, pretentious, a scam

[1/10 · 25 February 2003]

It's difficult to express how bad this movie is. Even in the 1950s when intellectual searching for the meaning of life was fashionable and beatnik rejection of physical comforts, clean clothes, haircuts, etc. was a common reaction to the smug middle-class mores of both the USA and western Europe, this movie would have been a stinker. The plot is a mishmash of several dei ex machina (if that's the correct Latin grammar); the acting consists of deadpan stares broken by occasional hysterics (by the male lead as well as the females); the gratuitous view of Catherine Deneuve's (or somebody's) breasts are worthy of a Budweiser commercial; the repeated cacaphonous orchestra rehearsal in the abandoned building is I'm sure heavy with meaning in the director's mind but to me is just one more stupid symbol thrown into this meaningless movie -- I'm ranting because my time has been wasted watching this scam excuse for an art flic. The scenery is beautiful and the sex scene is hot -- but underneath his clothes, this king has no substance.

The Cat's Meow (2001)

a well-disguised stinker

[3/10 · 23 January 2003]

Anyone who is a sucker for 1920s jazz, 1920s dress, the Charleston, and ultra-swanky yachts (e.g. me, on all counts) will want to like this movie. But the sad fact is that that's all there is. The plot is banal and obvious, the acting mostly either awful or playing to the farcical side of the goings-on, and when the whole thing's over there is not much left but the impression of mirrors and smoke. This is a beautifully made bad movie.

Three (I) (1969)

1950s artsy set in 1960s

[4/10 · 17 January 2003]

No doubt about it, Rampling is gorgeous -- a classic beauty, here very young. She manages to appear simultaneously sophisticated and poignant. Her two male foils act well too. But seen in 2003, the flic is all

American-trying-to-be-artsy-and-not-be-Hollywood-while-shooting-beautiful-sh ots-of-the-French-Riviera-and-three-pretty-young-people-in-their-cute-old-ca r. I enjoyed the view (both the actors and the nature) but the movie is boring and pretentious while trying to be the opposite.

An Inconvenient Woman (1991)

one of the all-time great trashy movies

[7 December 2002]

Sure, it may be made-for-TV soap opera. But the book by Dominick Dunne was such a well-written story, and in the movie (which as far as I can remember is quite faithful to the book) all the acting is superb, the characterizations almost believable (the story is a bit too far out for really believable characters), the dialog many, many cuts above the average TV movie -- good editing and photography, great sets -- this is really a plus-perfect movie of its genre. "If this be trash, make the most of it" -- I loved it!

Purple Noon (1960)

where's the auto-pilot??

[7/10 · 24 April 2002]

This is a well-done flic, made by Europeans, based on Patricia Highsmith's (famous for "Strangers on a Train") first in a series of novels about Tom Ripley. It's been done again, more recently, by Americans as "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

Mirabile dictu, the American remake is much more faithful to the book, also better imho, and eschews the European version's Hollywood ending. What next? But "Plein Soleil" has Alain Delon, a less beautiful but more believable Marge, great camera and cutting work -- and lots of sequences sailing on Phil Greenleaf's beautiful wooden sloop.

Anyone who likes unusual, well-plotted, beautiful movies should see both versions.

What does my one-line summary mean? For a sailor, the eeriest thing about the movie are the long periods when the entire crew goes below while the boat sails itself, on the open sea, with no more guidance than a lashed wheel. Risky business...

The Taste of Others (2000)

almost but not quite

[7/10 · 21 April 2002]

"Taste of Others" is creative -- and cliche-ridden. It contains many scenes and plot events that ring true to life, and characters that are one-dimensional. It is boring for quite a long time at the beginning, and catches the viewer up before the end. It's surprising and original, and the ending(s) are completely predictable.

So it's certainly worth seeing, and you can form your own views. But a great work of art, it ain't.

Under the Sand (2000)

A real tour de force performance by Rampling makes this a must-see.

[26 January 2002]

The movie is a well done exploration of love, devotion, loss, denial, and the question of survival of traumatic grief. It might be just a bit too "sensitive" for some, and others may question why the story shows a woman having enormous difficulty coming to terms with the sudden death of her loved husband, asking whether a man in the same role would have been as believable. (Unreconstructed sexist that I am, I think not.) But the bottom line is that this is a compelling, well-shot, well-edited movie with a performance by Charlotte Rampling that really has to be seen.

Dead Reckoning (1946)

a second rate B movie

[5/10 · 17 November 2001]

If you're a film noir fan, it's definitely worth seeing. Bogie plays Bogie and Lizabeth Scott plays Lizabeth Scott to the hilt. But the plot has too many completely improbable twists, and some of the dialogue (mostly Bogie's) must have seemed preposterous even in the late '40s. The contradictions in the Scott character (Coral Chandler?) are enough to drive anyone who thinks about it completely crazy. Basically, your attitude has to be, "who cares about believable plot or believable character when Bogie deals with mobsters, murder, mayhem, and a classic "do I love her, can I trust her, did she do it, do I care?" femme fatale.

The Story on Page One (1959)

a second-rate B movie with a pure "Hollywood" ending

[25 August 2001]

This movie is pretty disappointing. Rita Hayworth and Gig Young are, each in a different way, completely unconvincing in roles that portray characters so dumb and passive that it would be hard to play them really well. The long denouement, their trial for murder, is boring and inferior to a standard Perry Mason. How Odets did a movie this trite is a puzzle. For a while I had hopes of a surprise ending, a la "Witness for the Prosecution" -- but Tony Franciosa is not Charles Laughton and the heartwarmingly straight ending is so unsurprising that I was surprised by it.

Humanity (1999)

fascinating, boring, and pretentious

[29 May 2001]

Thank God for non-Hollywood movies but this is one of the most pretentious, boring movies I have seen in many decades. The acting is, in fact, truly wonderful, notably the poker face of Pharaon who could be a masked actor in an ancient Greek play. How he and the other main characters kept from breaking out into laughter I don't know. The clownish and totally inept police force and its non-investigation of the murder (no explanation at all of how they solved it) provides a nice comic relief to the serio-pathetic protagonists as they try to bear up under it all -- it's all just too much -- how can we take another day of it -- LIFE -- or is it just being human -- is more than we poor humans can bear. Crap! I can just hear Pauline Kael's review..."I lost it (faith in movies) at this movie."

Sorry but it was just too much pseudo-artistic overly-understated heavy meaning for this human movie fan.

Traffic (2000)

I liked it more than it deserves.

[15 April 2001]

"Traffic" is basically a well done, entertaining, cliche. Michael Douglas is the not-completely-hard-liner who gets more and more understanding as he learns about the impossibility of 'winning" the war on drugs, and finally can only say "we're here to listen." His junkie but lovable daughter and her junkie and despicable schoolmates at a caricature prepschool for the rich kids of Indianapolis (Anywhereville, Midwest, USA) are just what they should be. The narcs on both sides of the border are gutsy, skillful, and love their partners more than anything except honor. And so on. Add to this an incredible coincidence as a professional killer is executed by another professional killer just as he is about to assassinate a key witness, and an even more incredible instant transformation of the ZetaJones character from selfish but innocent wife of druglord to macho, effective drug lordette.

But it's fun. The cutting is fast so only effete intellectuals are able to worry about these kinds of nuances, it sends a great message about the war on drugs while honoring whatever honest people are still in the trenches trying to achieve the unachievable, Michael D continues to look more and more like his father -- it's a great ride.

Lady in the Lake (1946)

mediocre 40 years ago and no better in 2000

[4/10 · 25 December 2000]

A good thing they hardly ever show Montgomery because he is completely unbelievable as Marlowe. How and why he ever falls seriously for Audrey Totter, whose characterization of a phony female is overdone even for the time, is one of the mysteries of the film. Audrey Meadows steals the show as a ditzy possible murderess. All in all a poorly done detective flick.

U-571 (2000)

Best spectacle but every old sub movie cliche all over again

[16 December 2000]

Yes the DVD is spectacular. The camera-work, cutting, sound, etc. are tops. And, yes, I did enjoy it. But having watched sub flicks since John Wayne first yelled "dive, dive, dive," I gotta say that this one repeats every cliche in the book. There is not a single surprise in the whole thing -- from the going "too deep" to avoid the depth charges and the pipes burst but the sub doesn't sink, to fooling the enemy destroyer by discharging waste and a dead body, to the torpedos that miss by an inch (actually one scrapes the hull but doesn't explode). Deja vu all over again... Among the most piquant unrealistic aspects for me was the placid condition of the North Atlantic Ocean, which even in a supposed storm looked like the Chesapeake with 5 knots of wind. But go see it if you like action flicks, and make sure you do see it with hi-fi surround sound because the depth bombing is too good to miss.