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Mike_Flattley
Reviews
La princesse de Montpensier (2010)
Awful
There is so much that is good about French cinema, but if you are about to see this movie, you have just wasted eighteen to thirty dollars, presuming you are either being dragged to or are dragging some sort of romantically-inclined partner, consort or comfort worker to this sorry eruption of art-house dross from the bowels of the French export industry. Like a vast wheel of mass-produced industrial brie, this inferior national product is ensconced in flag-waving packaging surrounding its bland core. "Hello, I am a French period drama," it screams, beating you with a vast stick of bread, then gets on with the pressing business of documenting the unremarkable life of some wilful yet vacuous aristocratic twit who for some reason warrants two hours of our undivided attention.
For audience members with the good fortune to have escaped internment for crimes against humanity, I must question your enduring decision to watch this movie. It is a travesty of filmmaking, a cynical act of reflux by an industry that recognises anything in a period costume set in the French countryside anytime over the last millennium will attract the vapid attention of culture drones who delight in hollow, costumed eye-candy so much they need to be forcibly restrained less they mount the stage to perform lewd acts against the screen. In fact, it would be a sensible exercise in self-preservation to simply sit silently in a dark cupboard for two hours imagining this very scenario unfolding instead of watching "The Princess of Montpensier."
I would caution that these are two hours you will never get back, however the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder the movie will precipitate will involve audience members reliving this experience again and again through a series of distressing flashbacks. This is not just two hours. It is a life sentence.
The Departed (2006)
I can't believe this dross won any Oscars at all
A wonderful cast, an interesting story, reasonably good performances. If only Scorcese hadn't directed it, and whoever edited this over- extended, self-preoccupied and frequently irrelevant series of plot points should be shot. Plainly the stellar cast have congregated around Scorcese and it probably wouldn't have been made without him. Obviously, everyone involved were pretty pleased to be together on the project. That comes through and that's good. However, a whole heap of entirely unimportant, improvised tooling about by the ensemble desperately needs to be hacked out of the final reel, which Scorcese plainly couldn't bring himself to do. His affections for the cast have got in his way.
There is a good film hidden in this bad film. Judicious cutting of VERY expendable material that does nothing for either character development or plot would deliver a terrific, tight-packed little thriller with enjoyable performances by most cast members. Agree Mark Wahlberg did a great job, and Di Caprio was very watchable. Matt Damon extended his range a little, but overall finds it hard to be anyone other than himself, in this film and most others. Fortunately he happens to be an interesting kind of guy.
Mad Men (2007)
Death of a Salesman meets Freud
It's a terrific show. The writing is dense, the acting is measured and respects the audience's intelligence. Much is said regarding the authenticity of the 'advertising world' depicted, but that really misses the point. The point is Don Draper and the tragedy of his self-exile from his own life; a deeply isolated yet remarkably soulful individual who has been 'given' a chance at a perfect life. The problem is, the perfect life he creates leaves no space for his considerable imperfections, largely the psychological scars of a horrible childhood. Accordingly, he perpetually places his idyllic, early 1960s existence - a trophy wife, a boy and a girl, a house in the suburbs and a creative, executive job - in dire peril through a desperate search for an outlet for his residual pain and, at times, desperate loneliness (usually he is simply 'alone' rather than 'lonely' in true male style). This is great drama.
Offset this with a very playful and frequently poignant exploration of 1960s values, behaviours and mores, clashing jarringly with so much in our current lives that we take for granted, and it's a great ride. The insight to the workings of a 60s ad agency is certainly intriguing, but far from the point of the show.
Personally I thought the second season started somewhat slowly, but it picked up and the last four episodes had me totally hooked in.