I said this in a comment, too, but I was starting to think I was crazy for being the only viewer not to love Petit. What a relief.
Anyway, been watching a lot lately; saw the nine films below in about 12-13 days, I think. Not counting
Funny People yet, as I'm gonna try to write a formal review. Here we go:
A History of Violence
Not bad. Really like the storytelling device of keeping the audience in the dark about Tom's past and whether or not the whole thing is a case of mistaken identity. It seems less impressive in hindsight, but I can't deny that I was pretty engrossed at the time. I admire its simplicity.
The Great Escape
Classic film based on a true story (loosely, I'm guessing) about escape attempts at Nazi prisoner camps. Netflix'd this at Courtney's insistence. Definitely a lot longer than it needed to be, but still a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure I would've really loved this movie if it were 20-30 minutes shorter.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Documentary about the world of video game record holders. My rating for this isn't exactly fair, as it's a result of reading about the film and its aftermath. The director seems to more or less concede that he deliberately misled the audience about several things, but insists that the things they left out were more insulting to Billy Mitchell than the things they falsely insinuated. Very weird, to say the least. The little prologue was awfully tacked-on, too, but still strangely satisfying.
'Course, the whole thing's undermined when one learns that Mitchell re-claimed the high score title later on. But it still paints an interesting picture, even if it does seem as if it stooped a bit low to do so. I
want to believe it's accurate, which says a lot about how well made it is.
Princess Mononoke
Epic story about man and nature, and probably the most respected example of anime, from what I've gathered.
I'm sure there are a lot of people here who love this film, but I just can't. I
adored the first ten minutes, and really admire some of the stylistic flair, but I have a lot of trouble buying into the weird pseudo-philosophy. Roger Ebert praises it for what he sees as a high degree of moral nuance, and that's reasonable (and welcome), but I'm not sure how much of that is deliberate, and how much of that is just confused.
It also weirds me out when various characters simply declare that doing such-and-such will yield such-and-such result, as Ashitaka does near the end of the film in regards to the forest spirit. Random, crucial elements of the world's mythology crop up at the last moment, which seems sloppy, to say the least. And it's a little weird to have Ashitaka, an outsider to the world, directly contradict San about these matters. I've seen this in other examples of Asian animation, where the characters seem to possess an unexplained, sometimes inexplicable knowledge about the machinations going on around them. I suppose there's a cultural gap there, but it always irks me.
The Counterfeiters
A film about an expert countfeiter taken into custody during the Holocaust and forced to help the Nazi war machine forge pounds and dollars to cripple the Allies' respective economies.
Really enjoyed this. Hats off to this film for exploring a very specific type of moral quandry inherent in the Holocaust: do those in captivity have a moral obligation to thwart their captors at every turn, or is it better to do what they're asked if they believe it will increase their chances of survival? The characters wrestle with these questions, until eventually it becomes clear that there's no right answer. The only answer is that it is a crime against humanity to force people to make such decisions.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
A Woody Allen film about two girls spending the summer in Barcelona who are propositioned by a local man (Javier Bardem) and gradually succumb to his advances. Their love triangle becomes a love quadrilateral before long, and one complication is heaped on top of another.
Didn't love this one, but Allen does have a way of making me curious about how his films will end. He makes me think he's got a clear message in store, but it seems like he never does. I don't know if this makes his films better or worse, but I do think it stops this one from being especially great. Difficult to review, except in the abstract. If it's about anything, I suppose it's about how, no matter what craziness we experience, people don't usually change.
One unabashed positive is Penelope Cruz. She's really fantastic in this. Between this and
Volver, I've come to have a lot of respect for her as an actress.
The Arrival
Sci-fi film about a possible alien conspiracy starring Charlie Sheen. Nothing terribly special, but I saw this when I was a lot younger and remember thinking it was interesting, so it takes on a special meaning for me that it wouldn't for others. Still think it's a tad underrated; there are a couple of silly elements, but it does have a neat twist or two. Worth seeing for a) Ron Silver wearing a fake mustache at one point and b) an assasination-by-bathtub attempt. Really.
Gosford Park
Murder mystery (of sorts) and period piece (1930s, I believe) from director Robert Altman. Not sure about the rating; I think I'll have to watch this again to form a better opinion about it. It's deliberately confusing over the first 45 minutes or so, so I'm not sure whether to judge it based on whether or not it does this well (it does), or whether or not I enjoy this decision (not particularly). I do like the way the mystery comes together (though I was able to predict part of it fairly early), and it's very well-acted. Definitely the kind of film that would benefit from a second viewing.
The Limey
Stylistic film about a man seeking revenge for his daughter's death from director Steven Soderburgh. Not sure if this should be
or not. I'm not nuts about the odd cutaways where a character's mouth moves while the audio plays something they said earlier (or later). It's just a tad overused, but I'll concede that it does force you to be a bit more alert about it, though it seems to mostly exist just to be different.
I like that the "villain" isn't really even remotely stereotypical. Most of its value lies in its direction, I think, and less in its actual story.
Reply to Topic
).
