Iro's One Movie a Day Thread

More reviews needed

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Sorry about the lack of reviews, my computer has been on the fritz for the last nine days. That, of course, just left me with more time to watch films - by my count, I currently have thirty films waiting to get reviewed, and it's going to take a while to catch up on them all.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.

#12 - Punch-Drunk Love
Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002



Barry (Adam Sandler) is a socially awkward small business owner with rage issues who struggles to make a connection with other people - even resorting to phone sex lines just to have someone to talk to - before things are changed by his introduction to Lena (Emily Watson).

I remember seeing Punch-Drunk Love a good few years ago now and at the time I didn't think much of it. I was aware that it was supposed to be a more artistic film that Sandler's usual fare and I had already seen at least a couple of other PTA films so I knew what to expect from the director, but I remember just being left cold by most of the film. My recent viewings of Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore prompted me to rent this out during a recent visit to the video store to see if the passage of time and a second viewing would help it at all and...well, it didn't.

I'll concede that Sandler is good in his role. If Punch-Drunk Love is supposed to be a deconstruction of romantic comedies, then the character of Barry is definitely a deconstruction of Sandler's typically over-the-top protagonist. For the most part, he's a quiet and nervous character who is prone to the occasional bout of destructive behaviour, whether breaking windows or smashing up a public bathroom. A good chunk of the movie involves Sandler acting by himself, especially in phone conversations. As the movie progresses he even gets into the kind of full-throttle yelling that defined his more overtly comedic characters. Unfortunately, it's balanced out by the rest of the cast just being there and reacting to his behaviour. Emily Watson is normally a pretty good actress but here she tends to act as a rather patient and understanding foil to Barry's antics and not have much development in her own right. PTA regular Philip Seymour Hoffman serves as the film's antagonist, but he doesn't get much to do beyond a couple of shouting matches with Sandler. Luis Guzman is serviceable as Sandler's loyal offsider, while all the actresses who serve as Sandler's character's older sisters - well, I think we're supposed to dislike them all, so I guess they're doing a very good job of conveying that.

At least with a director who cares as much about his craft as PTA, this film is capable of showing some impressive imagery. There's a fair share of his usual long takes and carefully framed shots, which do look good. Even the sporadic uses of colourful distortions look good, though I question what they add to the film as a whole beyond some pretty visuals. I can't help but feel like the distinctive look of the film is undone by his usage of waltz-like music that (at least in 2015) feels like the sort of overdone quirky romantic kind of stuff that's been fairly discredited by this point. The development of both major plotlines doesn't do much of interest to me - leaving aside the fairly bland A-plot involving Barry and Lena, the B-plot's blackly comic story of Barry's innocuous calling of a phone sex line leading to his raising the ire of a group of violent con artists is slightly interesting but its execution leaves a fair bit to be desired. The whole B-plot just feels like a distraction more than anything. Given the film's fairly pedestrian attempts at quirk, such as the fact that Sandler's character's small business specialises in novelty plungers or his character's plot to buy lots of pudding so as to acquire a lot of frequent flyer miles, it feels about as inconsequential as anything else in this film.

So until I see Hard Eight or Inherent Vice, I'm more than ready to write this off as my least favourite PTA film by a considerable margin. Sandler is used to good effect, but it's at the expense of virtually every other actor in this film. Writer-director PTA cares enough to shoot this film with extreme clarity but the writing leaves a lot to be desired and makes the film a chore even when it barely reaches the 90-minute mark. Basically, I can see that there is something of worth about this film but I still struggle to actually like it.

#13 - Rambo: First Blood Part II
George P. Cosmastos, 1985



After being arrested at the end of First Blood, John Rambo is recruited by Col. Trautman as part of a recon mission into Vietnam searching for P.O.W. camps but of course things go wrong very, very quickly.

I still find it rather weird that Sylvester Stallone was able to take not one but two of his most serious films and spin both of them into multi-film franchises that very quickly devolved into the sort of silliness that the source films worked so hard to avoid. First Blood was a decent enough little story about a Vietnam veteran acting out the only way he knew how against a violent, uncaring society - it definitely wasn't an action ride. Part II also attempts to deliver some sort of message due to its plot involving rescuing long-forgotten P.O.W.s, but that does get a little lost in this film that seems almost like a cinematic attempt to retroactively win the Vietnam War. Also, wasn't the "traumatised vet goes back to Vietnam to rescue long-forgotten P.O.W.s" plot already used in Chuck Norris' Missing in Action?

Stallone and his "distinctive" brand of charisma dominate the film and it's not like we're watching this film for the other actors. Richard Crenna still plays Trautman with the same air of reason that made the character good, but Steven Berkoff seems to be recycling the same vicious Russian military character he played in Octopussy, and he wasn't much good there either. Charles Napier is serviceable as the unreliable mission control, but Julia Nickson-Soul doesn't get much to do beyond serving as Stallone's contact and



The action, well, it's serviceable, I guess. There's a lot of explosions and a lot of bad guys get killed in a variety of ways, but none of it feels particularly engaging. Faceless goons getting mowed down with machine guns? Yawn. Sure, using arrows tipped with explosives is inventive, but I get tired of that quickly. Not even the fact that it's all so comically serious about everything serves to provide any unintentional comedy value. Even so, I can't hate it but it's very lacking in terms of enjoyment.

#14 - The Water Diviner
Russell Crowe, 2014



In the aftermath of World War I, an Australian farmer who lost his three sons during the Gallipoli campaign embarks on a journey to Turkey in order to recover their bodies.

Well, it's not a bad film, but it's not exactly special either. It's that kind of against-all-odds story that also finds time for its protagonist to go through a journey of self-discovery at the same time. Crowe acts and directs and he proves a serviceable lead who is able to emote reasonably well during his character's search for his dead sons. Even so, the show is stolen by Yılmaz Erdoğan, who plays the Turkish major that serves as a morally complex foil to Crowe and the other Australian characters in the film, especially since he not only has to help the Australians locate their dead but also wage an ongoing war against Greek insurgents. When he eventually joins forces with Crowe the film picks up, but until that point the film generally just plods along as Crowe faces off against soldiers and bureaucrats from both Australia and Turkey. There's also a subplot involving a Turkish war widow (Olga Kurylenko) that I'm not sure is better at helping the film or hindering it.

The Water Diviner has a fairly ambitious scope but it's set back by all-too-familiar narratives and developments that are only just good enough so that you don't mind them playing out as they do. I'm probably underselling it a little, but it does feel like there's a more interesting story happening on the sidelines with the Turkish major and the Greek insurgents rather than the simplistic heartwarming drama of an Australian widower trying to do right by his family.

Ouch, looks like you had a bad day of watching.

It gets better, I swear it.

#15 - A Beautiful Mind
Ron Howard, 2001



Based on the true story of Nobel-winning mathematician John Nash, whose attempts at working on maths start getting derailed by a number of growing problems.

I knew next to nothing about A Beautiful Mind other than that it was a renowned Oscar winner that - surprise, surprise - was based on a true story about a troubled genius. Fortunately, I think the lowered expectations worked in the film's favour. After a fairly average first act that makes it seem like a fairly pedestrian period drama, the second act gets interesting when Nash (Russell Crowe, here playing up the nervy eccentricity that goes with being a socially awkward maths genius) is recruited by Ed Harris's shadowy G-man as part of a top-secret government project, and then


That revelation, and the fallout that ensues, make for a film that's interesting but doesn't always stick the execution. There's the expected tension between Nash and his wife (Jennifer Connelly, quite reasonably earning an Oscar for her work here) and various ensuing struggles that do come across as legitimately disturbing at times. There's an intriguing premise at work here, but it gets dragged down by Howard's extremely conventional Oscar-bait approach to the subject matter. I don't hate it, but I do feel that the material doesn't quite reach its full potential.

#16 - JFK
Oliver Stone, 1991



In the wake of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) launches his own investigation into the seemingly open-and-shut case.

JFK conspiracy theories always were kind of interesting and even though Stone's film emerges as a sort of docudrama that doesn't seem particularly concerned with its characters and their arcs so much as being an epic big-screen adaptation of Garrison's investigative report. There's a fairly basic crusade-for-justice kind of narrative where Garrison and his team are constantly threatened and bullied by all sorts of people for daring to even question the cover story and of course the investigation taking its toll on Garrison's home life, but they neither add to nor necessarily subtract from the film. What's interesting here is the vividly depicted search for the truth.

It's not surprising that this film won Oscars for both cinematography and editing. The footage in this film (the original stuff, obviously) veers between professional colour photography and grainy black-and-white at the drop of a hat as Stone and co. attempt to simulate various different types of camera. The same goes for the style, as there are carefully measured shots and also quick, jagged shots. The editing is also a star because despite there being a lot of frantic cuts between so many different types of images, it somehow doesn't feel like a pain to watch. Even when you're getting bombared with information, whether it's Garrison outlining his theory about the innocence of Lee Oswald (Gary Oldman) or a government informant (Donald Sutherland) delivering a load of exposition to Garrison, it's all paced in such a way that it stays interesting.

Though the fact that the film is more concerned with actual conspiracy theories rather than any sort of compelling or original narrative, it ultimately doesn't matter when it comes to JFK. A well-made film on all fronts with an excellent all-star cast to back it up, it's just a damn fine piece of work.

#17 - Death Wish
Michael Winner, 1974



After a home invasion leaves his wife dead and his daughter catatonic, a middle-aged architect (Charles Bronson) acquires a gun and becomes a vigilante.

In my review for Rambo: First Blood Part II I was giving Sylvester Stallone guff for taking his successful serious films such as Rocky or First Blood and giving them sequel after sequel that turned the franchises into abysmal self-parody and tarnished the name of the original. In the case of Death Wish, getting ridiculous sequels is probably the best thing that could've happened to such a bland excuse for an action thriller. I understand that it's not meant to be out-and-out action, but as it stands it's actually a pretty terrible excuse for a movie.

The movie sets up Bronson with a safe white-collar job and a loving family, where his co-worker calls him out as a "bleeding heart liberal" for daring to suggest that, y'know, maybe the reason crime is so rampant is because of socio-economic factors causing more people to turn to crime as a last resort? Then, of course, a gang of cartoonishly deranged hoods attack his family and he is slowly pushed to violence (and I do mean slowly, it takes at least 40 minutes or so before he attacks anyone). From there the movie lapses into a basic pattern. Bronson kills someone. The police investigate and get slightly closer to catching him. Bronson has a scene where he doesn't kill someone. A funky (and occasionally sinister) Herbie Hancock soundtrack ensues. Repeat until the end.

The film attempts to be ambiguous about whether or not it glorifies Bronson's actions. Even leaving aside the fact that it managed to spawn four whole sequels, I'm not sure it does a particularly good job at it. I guess that's just a problem with the whole vigilante sub-genre. Leaving aside the morality question, this is still an awfully dull film when it's not veering way too close to garish exploitation.

I gave Death Wish the same rating, indeed a terrible film.

Oddly enough, I still want to watch the sequels because I figure they'll take the premise and do something halfway entertaining with it. Death Wish 3 in particular sounds like something I'd appreciate.

A part of me wants to as well, the original took itself too seriously and that's what lead to its downfall. The sequels seem stupid but in a fun kinda-way.

...back and to the left......back and to the left.

__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

After a brief hiatus, it's good to see that you're back and picking up where you left off with the excellent write-ups, Iro. A lot of these "movie a day" threads have popped up lately, but nobody is putting forth the consistent effort that you are. I'm really enjoying this thread.

I'm disappointed that you didn't like Punch-Drunk Love or A Beautiful Mind more than you did. Personally, I think both movies are great.

I've never heard of The Water Diviner. At first I thought you were making a lame joke about Noah, but apparently The Water Diviner is something else entirely. As a fan of Russell Crowe, I'll keep an eye out for it.

I've always preferred the character of Rambo to Rocky. First Blood is one of my favorite movies, but I always pretend that he dies at the end, since that was the original ending and the proper ending. Like you mention in your write-up, Part II seems to forget everything that made First Blood such a standout film. However, as a big dumb action movie, Part II delivers, in my opinion. I certainly think it's better than the third entry in the series and at least on par with the 2008 film.

The gargantuan length of JFK puts me off a bit, but I'll watch it one of these days.

Ever since falling in love with Once Upon a Time in the West, I've wanted to explore more of Charles Bronson's roles since his Harmonica character was such an awesome bad ass. I've yet to watch any of the Death Wish movies, but your scathing write-up definitely throws cold water on any expectations I may have had.

__________________

Death Wish is the best of the DW movies , but 3 is livelier than II.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

That's always been my favourite part of the whole film.

Definitely give Death Wish 3 a look. It's ridiculous in the way that only mid 80's Hollywood exploitation films could be.

I always loved Death Wish but it's been at least 20 years.

I completely agree with you on Punch Drunk Love, Rambo II, and A Beautiful Mind.