move_over_fatso Reviews

The Last Days of Disco (1998)

Aiiiee, almost no reviewer here quite gets it ...

[7/10 · 30 December 2005]

1) There is no action in this movie. If you need *something*, then avoid this movie like the plague. And while one may think to themself, "dayam, those actresses look fine", there are no gratuitous skin shots. Its not a movie like "Honey", where you turn off the volume and just stare at Jessica Alba.

2) Its not really about the End of Disco (despite the title). The soon to be dead Disco era is a BACKDROP for the theme of the movie. Casablanca was not about WW II. It was a romance movie, and the War was a backdrop. No one bitches about the authenticity of the airplanes, uniforms, historical details of the politics or legal procedures, or portrayal of the Moroccan culture. Yes, I wish the filmmaker was a bit more zealous about period dress and music. Oh well. And while there are reminiscent touches, its not a movie who's focus is dedicated to capturing the Disco period. If what you want is an homage to Disco, then you won't like this movie.

3) It IS a "Coming of Age" movie. It is about vapid, just-out-of-college Americans starting out in the real world. The movie mostly skewers them, but I can't help but feel a bit of nostalgia and loss for a period of life that will never come back to me (early twentysomething). I strongly suggest you avoid the movie if you're under 35. You do not need to have lived through the disco period to appreciate the movie, but you do need to be an old fogey. Definitely a movie for adults, in the non-NC17 way.

4) The actors put on superlative performances. They were portraying vapid, witless, bland, soon to be full-blown yuppies. The time period is perfect for reflecting on the contrast of soon-to-be-over perceptions of life and the world from youth to early adulthood. You can almost see their worldview evolve within the one(?) year time period of the movie. There's nothing sucky about the acting. The characters are mostly sucky people; that's why they seem wooden, vapid, and lame. (And Kate Beckinsale does an AWESOME American accent; because she's British, and there isn't a hint of her native tongue.) Yes, their dancing seems lame, because the general public are generally lame dancers. People did not break out like John Travolta on the dance floor every night. Its not a movie about dancing.

5) One should be appreciating the dialogue from a detached distance, and be struck by its wit and humor. Not living through these people in a first person perspective. This is for people who can appreciate reading James Joyce, Harold Pinter, or Evelyn Waugh, or any great novelist/playwright who doesn't beat you over the head (usually with a voice-over) with the meaning of every aspect of a scene. (Apologies if these writers aren't good examples; I'm having a problem recalling an ideal choice.) If the movie seems to drift and be aimless, its because life is not a continuous series of epiphanies, and this is not a typical Hollywood feature. If you need something more obvious, you WON'T like this movie.

Its actually a bit hard to like this movie, but I do. I have met people who have lived through the Disco era and waxed poetic like Josh towards the end of the movie. They're actually yearning for the illusions of their youth; which is kind of what the movie is about.

Æon Flux (2005)

Its not a horrible movie

[7/10 · 28 December 2005]

But its for people who like science fiction, but never got too attached to the anime.

Aeon Flux zealots will most likely dislike the movie. Lord knows, I was ready to pass on it, based on the rumors (many true). I believe the reason for this is the themes are different between the anime and the movie. The movie actually has a plot, has a human element, (more) dialogue, and its easier to follow. While the original anime had a strong kinky sexual vibe, lots of social commentary undertones, and lots of gratuitous violence. Think of it as a (semi) original sci-fi movie with Aeon Flux grafted to the title.

Yeah, Theron isn't in the scantily clad combat outfit, but if you can forget about slavish adherence to detail, she still looks damn good in Lycra. She does look too chubby to be Aeon (a long faced, sinewy anorexic), but has the vocal tone and facial expressions. Marlon does not vaguely resemble Goodchild, but the story is different, so his acting matches the movie rendition.

But part of the problem (besides Theron being too pushy for her own good), is that you get the sense that Kusama either had no clue about the aesthetic of the anime, or was set on abandoning it to pursue her vision of AF. So while I can give it kudos for the re-visioning, it just does not capture the feel of the anime. The action sequences are not that good, and the tone is BLAND. It needed more frenetic activity, like The Matrix. There is no sense of cinematography adding atmosphere to the movie. (A Kubrick or Verhoeven would have addressed that better.) It feels like a chick director wanting to make an inherently male oriented cartoon more palatable to chicks as a chick flick. Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) would have been more faithful to the anime, and probably would have done a better job.

I find it incredible irony that a movie production decides to inject "plot" into a cartoon, improves it from a content point of view, and yet fails horribly at the box office. But its not a HORRIBLE movie. I'd kinda put it in The Island or Sky Captain level sci-fi movie.

Cinderella Man (2005)

Its a good movie, but its a bit overrated

[7/10 · 27 July 2005]

Good performances by all (I particularly liked Paul Giamatti). Howard didn't not try to strangle the movie with smurfy moments with the kids. The boxing matches got the blood up. But... eh. No great lesson to learn about life (other than to not give up, to show tenacity in the face of adversity, blah, blah blah). Nothing to ponder upon. I think the genius of Howard is that with this incredibly formulaic story, he managed not to overly bog it down with schmaltz, or loose tension throughout the movie. But it is a real formulaic story.

It gets a plus for not avoiding to show uglier aspects of the Depression. It gets a minus for lying about Max Baer in order to make him look more like a villain.

Maybe its me. Maybe I need more existential angst in a movie. Maybe these glowing comment reviews with almost no negative ones irk me. I never did like Rocky. But Million Dollar Baby was a much better boxing movie. Its a disgrace that Cinderella Man got killed in the box office by junk like Revenge of the Sith, or the Longest Yard, but this movie does not belong in the top 250 list.

The Machinist (2004)

Not a great movie, but a GREAT performance

[7/10 · 5 July 2005]

If you're the kind of person who savors dissecting movies like a cinema professor, you will enjoy cutting this one up. Bale is awesome in his force of will; to lose that weight, look like a Holocaust survivor, and still have the focus to execute his performance flawlessly. All the supporting actors did they jobs too. If you like wankering around with symbolism, the movie is loaded with clues. Film looked damn good too, from an editing point of view.

If not, you really have to like creepy films. But its more Hitchcockian in pace, than say a slasher flick. Could be ideal if you have a date that's really into that kind of flick.

Otherwise, its an incredibly well executed, but overly long Twilight Zone episode. I don't agree with the Fight Club plagiarism accusations. I loved Fight Club; you can pick out one or two details, but its totally different movie. Memento was more confusing than Machinist. Really, the style theft was Twilight Zone. (Its a damn shame none of the sequels could match this movie.)

Constantine (2005)

I don't get this lynch mob mentality

[1 June 2005]

1) I have not read the Hellraiser Comics

2) I do not think Keanu Reeves is the worst actor in existence

3) (Some odd reason I think people will find it significant... I also didn't think Judge Dredd was such a horrible movie either)

I could see why people who loved the comic would hate this movie for "screwing" up the execution. But I kinda liked the movie. It had and easy to follow supernatural plot, it had action, it had damn good special effects.

A bad movie is one where either I feel the need to flee from the theatre, or generally feel enraged about being robbed of my $10 to watch the piece of excrement called a movie. I felt none of these.

Execution of acting & dialogue could have been better. I don't understand why Weitz is so beloved. She was easy on the eyes, so yeah, you did feel for the character. But face it, one-dimensional goody-two-shoes are hardly fascinating, and her acting didn't rise above that point. Was Constantine a compelling character? No, but I think dialogue, scene construction, and the fact the protagonist wasn't supposed to be a likable guy pretty much constricted what Reeves could do. Nevertheless, Midnite (Hounsou) was pretty compelling in his small part, as was Balthazar (Rossdale), so that may be an indicator there was a problem with the leads' performance. I like Swinton's small role too, but I think it has more to do with her looks, and my general fascination with ethical perspective.

They do rip off The Prophecy movie themes, but its not like its horribly distasteful. In fact, I liked Constantine better than the Prophecy sequels. Its flawed in its lackluster execution, but I blame the scriptwriter & director for that.