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Reviews
The Fabelmans (2022)
Mediocre film with mediocre direction
For what it could have been, this is very disappointing turn by Mr. Spielberg. It's as close to mush as old oatmeal, full of hackneyed story tropes and an embarrassing, weak, ending. Really. An honest memoir would have been appreciated but not this romance with himself.
On the plus side, there's a great turn by Judd Hirsch and Michele Williams is good (but not best actress good, when there were so many deeper performances last year).
Still, Mr. Spielberg seems to be content to rest on his laurels and call in his chits. He swings a lot of weight in Hollywood, so a best director nod or even a best picture is not beyond the realms of possibility. The Academy frequently makes lame choices, especially when it looks in the mirror and admires itself.
Interstellar (2014)
Strong story full of ridiculous gobblygook
As much as the physics has been praised, the last part of the film inside the black hole is maelstrom of great sounding gobblygook, but gobblygook nonetheless, necessary to draw the story's interconnections across space and time. It's utter nonsense, thrown in to fool the credulous that the story has a basis in physical reality. It does not. Instead it's just poor science fiction. Nolan is often mentioned alongside Stanley Kubrick, the director of 2001, A Space Odyssey, but Kubrick's film has a rigorous logic that Interstellar woefully lacks. Factually is thrown overboard in the interests of storytelling and a cynical view of the audience's inability to discern what is just gobblygook from real scientific understanding. Well, sadly, it did work. The film has made a bundle. However, in terms of its place in the history of film, it will fade as quickly as if it disappeared beyond the event horizon of a black hole.
Dune (2021)
A sad, souless, experience
Dune the great work of fiction novel is first and foremost a human story, preoccupied with the question of what it means to be fully and completely human within a civilization that values power and and its antecedent, greed. The journey of Paul, not a random choice of a name, rest assured, is toward his full potential, mystical if you wish, but, sublimely natural within the world of Zen Buddhism and Sufism, that were Frank Herbert's inspirations. So, what has Denis Villeneuve done with it? He has reduced it to an atmospheric action piece, long on action, short, very short, on soul.
It's not that he didn't gather around him a crew and cast talented enough. The actors are terrific, managing to inhabit their limited roles with full on grace. Their casting is mostly inspired, except, unfortunately for the one character necessary, assuming a better screenplay, to elevate this chablon from a mostly interesting, if somewhat boring action film, to a masterpiece. Timothy Chalamet simply doesn't have the gravitas for Paul and his journey to become the Kwisatz Haderach. He just doesn't. But the shortcomings of this Dune shouldn't rest on his slender shoulders or coiffed head. They belong solely to the director's graphic novel vision of the source material. Brilliant as a visual extravaganza, it simply falls far short of what the novel is about.
Inheritance (2020)
Unbelievably awful
Let's see, the plot is full of holes so wide that you could send the Macy's Day parade through any of them. The dialogue is leaden, the performace by Lily Collins as flat as the wide prairies and she carries the weight of an airborne fluff into the role as a Manhattan DA. She's as believable as, you know, the President of the United States. The only decent performance is by Simon Pegg who makes something interesting from literally nothing. He should be cheered for signing onto a script that other actors probably fled from. The people responsible for this, the director, screenwriter, and all the producers should be chained up in an underground bunker and made to watch it endlessly on a loop until they were either driven insane by it's inanities or until they swore on the lives of their future progeny that they would never darken this industry again.
For the non-discerning.
Dolor y gloria (2019)
A good film but overrated
Almodovar's work has become less interesting and more meandering over the years and while this film is more focused and controlled these are exactly the reasons that contribute to a less engaging result. Antonio Banderas gives a performance drained of most colors other than depression. It's finely crafted but like the film itself, hardly worthy of the accolades it's receiving . Indeed are we living in such bizarrely overheated times, that this film withoutan edge is worthy of celebration for the sheer contrast? The critical praise it's getting is hard to fathom any other way. While it's well crafted, it's unremarkable compared to other directorial work coming out of the Spanish speaking world. While the story line of a director in decline is tightly woven, it's been done in much more interesting ways by others. As I sat through it I felt very little of anything, even at its single passionate moment. At the end I had to search for my reaction and the only word I could eventually come up with was 'uncompelling'. And that saddened me more than the story itself.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Good film but not the Best Picture of 2013
This is a good film, maybe even an historically worthy film, but not a great film. There's little that is truly outstanding about it with the sole exception of a performance by Michael Fassbender. The rest of the cast deliver a very narrow range of emotions that are as predictable from their horribly unjust situation, as they are uninteresting.
It is a simple tale told well, but I'm afraid it doesn't stack up next to many of the other films nominated for Best Picture. If a work is to be judged by the three measuring sticks of aesthetics: unity, complexity, and intensity, it lacks in complexity. Severely so. In fact without Michael Fassbender's portrayal of a sexually and mentally deviant slave owner, one could imagine this film attracting no more attention than your common movie of the week.
American Hustle, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, and even The Wolf of Wall Street are much more interesting films with far more nuanced performances and with contemporary edge. But we live in times where simple and common are celebrated by the many, and edge is uncomfortable, even with the voting majorities of many professional movie organizations, and as last years wins for the eminently forgettable Argo can attest, this film's string of wins is likely to continue with a Best Picture Oscar, after which it will be as quickly forgotten as next years's hot Reality TV show.
We should count ourselves lucky that great films are still being made, whether they're recognized during awards Silly Season or not.
The Killing (2011)
A terrible ending spoils a decent attempt of a series
Just the worst, least intelligent, ending that the producers could have conceived. It serves no-one except their desire for renewal. It defies logic and any responsibility to elucidate dangling plot threads. Viewers with a critical sense should not bother wasting the 12.8 hours to get to the point where they are tossed off a cliff.
The producers should be hanging their heads in shame, but I doubt that they do.
The real shame is that the ending negates a decent, well acted and generally well scripted and directed effort. There were tip-offs. In the effort to leave cliff hangers at the end of episodes the producers once or twice compromised the integrity of their story without batting an eyelash. That should have been a clue that things could go seriously awry in the last episode but there's enough value in the whole to keep the faith that they'd pull it all together. Unfortunately they fell woefully short.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
A nadir in popular culture
An offensive pile of terd.
To make a revenge fantasy as realistic as this, on a subject that remains as serious as this, is just, plain and simply put, naked exploitation, That so many find it enjoyable is sad and pathetic but probably to be expected in a culture that celebrates superficiality, that venerates celebrity, and is ignorant to the point of being easily manipulated by those who have anything but its best interests at heart.
The work of a mind sadly bereft of a moral compass.
'3' for the actors who perform brilliantly but who should have known better.
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
From high concept novel to movie trash can
About as bad an adaption of a great book that's ever been done.
Fortunately we have the whole sad story of the slippery slope from concept to trash can as told by Julie Salamon in The Devil's Candy. She was writing an article on the movie during pre-production, saw where things were headed, and stuck around to document it.
For those who want to see how money and self-hypnosis can corrupt the film-making process it's a worthwhile, if sad, read.
Wisely, Tom Wolfe refrained from commenting on the whole sordid pile of stink that his novel had become. However, when asked about movie versions of books he could only say, "Sometimes you just have to take the money and hold your nose."
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Dancing with Shiva
Bravo Mr. Demme! A stunning, nearly flawless journey into the heart of darkness of an American family. Ms. Hathaway is brilliant, a performance that ranks with the best of the year and deserves any award for which it's nominated, including the biggest one tomorrow night. But the entire cast is superb, not a false note hit among them.
The dark emotions, the improvised performances, the visceral reality, and the cinema verite feel will turn off the fatuous, but long after other films of this year fade from memory this one will be studied in film history classes.
Congratulations to all involved.
Night Skies (2007)
Utterly, utterly, atrocious
Awful story, awful script, awful acting, awful editing, awful direction. What's good? Surprisingly it's not badly shot and the aliens were also well done, not so surprisingly because the director comes from a background of makeup and special effects. The film would be excusable if it was his first attempt. It wasn't. he should go back to makeup and special effects. As for the story, whichever extra-terrestrial visitors might actually be flying around this planet could, and probably should, sue the filmmakers for slander. Even in the most horrific of actual abduction accounts the aliens show more compassion for the humans than the shipboard dissections without anesthetic that are thrown at us here. The purpose throughout is to shock. If you like laughing at truly bad films with a lot of hokey jolts and multi-colored latex slime this film is for you.
Vanity Fair (2004)
The vanity of the writers, the director, and the star are mind-boggling!
I'll be generous. This film version of a masterpiece of a novel is appalling, an extreme example of artistic hubris. Modifying, characters, themes,and scenes willynilly to suit their vision those responsible have created a monumental travesty. Not since Bonfire of the Vanities has a work of literature suffered so badly at the hands of artistic egos and financial greed. And it's interesting that 'vanity' is a common connecting thread.
LORD PLEASE SPARE US, YOUR GREAT WORKS OF ART, FROM SUCH TORTURES, BRANDISH YOUR VEGEANCE AGAINST THOSE RESPONSIBLE, SMITE THEIR FUTURE ENDEAVOURS WITH HUMILITY, THEIR AVARICE WITH DISCERNMENT, THEIR IGNORANCE WITH RESPECT. LET THEM FEEL SOME SHAME.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Praise them with Great Praise
Now that this 12 hour film is complete the process of evaluating it can properly begin. It's not perfect - what is - but it's not far off. What a stunning, magnificent, accomplishment. To all who worked on it, Praise them with Great Praise. They have created one for the Ages.
Cold Mountain (2003)
A whole lot less than the sum of its parts.
Not a bad film. Not a good film either. All that talent just never manages to jell into something substantial..
The main fault lies with the screenplay. Whatever charms the novel might have held were mostly lost in the translation. Supporting characters never stick around long enough to justify their presence - the hermit lady who heals Inman, for instance, adds nothing to the story line or theme that is not added elsewhere. With sparse dialogue and introverted main characters the script fails to invent ways to reveal their inner lives in ways that we really care about. And after 2.5 hours we really should care what befalls them at the end.
Despite the massive promotion as the year's masterpiece the film just doesn't deliver the goods, and, to their rare credit, most critics and Academy members were able to see that behind all that sizzle there wasn't a whole lot of meat. But then again it did manage to get Jude Law and Rene Z. oscar nominations and neither perfornance particularily shouts out for such recognition.
Bull Durham (1988)
A truly great film about the world of baseball
Forget the carpy comments from some of the dimmer lights here (unless your a carpy kinda person).
This is a great film that is as fresh today as when it was made in 1988 and how many films can you say that about? Of course if swearing or sex bothers you, this film is not for you, but then again, neither is life as it is lived by most of the people on this planet.
The best baseball film ever? By a third decker. Field of Dreams, to which it is often compared, was not so about baseball as much as it's place in the American psyche. This film is about life in the minors, and by giving a touching portrait of three characters in that milieu, it creates a minor masterpiece on a far greater canvas.
Kevin Kostner's performance wooden? We are talking about Kevin Kostner, right?
That Nuke wouldn't have been called up from A ball, or even that his delivery wouldn't have got him anywhere near A ball? Dramatic and technical license.
Susan Sarandon too old? Maybe you'd better take up another game, because film commentary just isn't for you.
Under the Volcano (1984)
If you deeply appreciate the novel, this is just an interesting but failed exercise.
Just to balance off the comments here, this is perhaps one of the worst adaptations of a great novel ever done.
It should also be pretty obvious why. This is one of those magnificent creations of literature that require an equally brilliant adaptation; something that will capture the stylistic essence of the original within the syntax of the film medium. Such things are extremely rare, however, and, unfortunately, Huston and his screenwriter did not even attempt it, just hanging on the the basic story line and characterizations. So what we're left with is a skeleton (pun intended) of the plot which is pretty thin to begin with, and on which has been hung a lot of mediocre dialogue.
While Finney and Bissett give compelling performances, there's just not enough drinks to go around.
Schindler's List (1993)
The wages of excess
This otherwise brilliant movie was tainted for me by an over-the-top last scene and epilogue. When will this man learn to restrain his impulse to try and pluck every last heartstring. Sometimes it's better to let the viewer play them in the silence of their own hearts.