Traffic

Alrighty, I just saw this movie with my parents and I have to say I hated it. I thought it was really really boring. The only thing I liked about it were the two guys that were also in Boogie Nights. I can't think of their names right now. They were the highlight of the movie to me. Toro did a good job acting, as did all the other actors. I just thought it was really boring. Most likely just because I'm a teenager. There were parts of the movie where I thought this is getting good(mainly towards the end), but those parts didn't last long. I kept hoping something would happen to redeem itself to me, but I only kept looking at my watch.

I can see why critics think it is such a good movie, but I just dont think it was all that great. And I hated the camera work. I saw the making of the movie, and how the director was so into the movie that he went around with the camera on his shoulder half the time, and at the time I thought that was pretty neat. But it didn't work for this movie. The only movies I think where a handheld camera does work, is when the perspective of the camera is supposed to represent a first person perspective, but that was never called for in this movie.

Has anyone else seen this? What did you think?

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Horror's Not Dead
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i meant to post on this, i saw it the weekend it came out, but never got around to writing a review ...

i actually felt it was VERY good. the camera work did not detract and in some ways underlies the subtleties of themes and moods within the story.

especially the sepia tones saturating the grainy footage that characterizes all scenes shot in Mexico ... that decadent, old world feeling, underscoring the corruption and greed beneath all that golden "innocent" sunshine ...

the coldness of the blue/grey/white scenes in the home and world of michael douglas' character ...

the false wholesomeness of the brilliant color and warm brilliance in catherine zeta jones' character's world ...

i found all of these, and the realism, the lack of sentimentality, the little hint of hope at the end that is underscored with a sense of fatalism ... the closing for each section, for each story, which seems hopeful but is laced with darkness, trepidation, where each story could still end horribly however close success seems ... i found it all very moving, in a quiet, thoughtful way. it was very subtle in its power, it didn't make me cry, but it horrified and moved me, made me relate, in a muted sort of volume that is no less powerful.

i left it feeling glad that i had seen it, and thinking that it will be an oscar contender, and one of the ones i would actually take seriously. i would agree here, this may be one you didn't enjoy as much because you're younger ... the real sense of fatalism is tied around things you might feel more intensely the older you get ... the terrible fear and horror at your own child being taken down into this world you cannot fight, the ignorance of people, the corruption in the world that you never think will touch you until it takes those closest to you, and even, against all you ever believed, yourself.

I think this will be a very "okay" movie, but I havn't seen it yet. I'll probably wait to see it on video, so it'll lose some of it's entertainment value. Things are always better in the theatre.

i agree with thmillin on this one. this movie, i felt, was great. it's a very disturbing movie, so it is kind of hard to watch a times, but its actually somewhat traditional. it has these very set heroes, and at the end all of the heroes seem to win (the only part of the movie that i thought was unrealistic). the cinematography was excellent--the filters used were helpful in following the movie and sort of setting up the characters, like thmillin said.
it will be interesting to see what others think of this movie as they see it. it's one of the best i've seen recently.

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Travel Pieces

yeah, but i'd stress the word "seem", like you said. they don't actually win ... i mean they do, but you kinda know that it's an uphill battle and might not last ... they all made sacrifices and compromised themselves, and in the long term the happy ending might not last ...

I just saw this today, and I was quite pleasantly surprised. The acting was superlative, and it was just fun picking out the familiar faces. Steven Bauer, Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace ("That 70s Show"), Amy Irving--just to name a few. All of them did a brilliant job. Everyone has been raving about Benicio Del Toro, and rightfully so. His character could have been brooding, but he played it so we could see all the different dimensions and emotions without overacting.

What really struck me was the paradoxical nature of the movie: the drug czar with the addicted daughter and recovering wife, the wife of the drug lord who instantaneously goes from innocent hausfrau to co-conspirator, the innocent police officers who unwittingly end up helping one drug cartel by trying to bring down another. And in the middle, we get to see the total uselessness and hopelessness of it all. Who is the biggest victim of the so-called "victimless crime"? Everyone in this film is, in one form or another.

I am getting so accustomed to seeing Michael Douglas in the White House in his film roles that I do believe he actually lives there sometimes. I bet some people wish he did, but I'm not one of them. That's just a personal view.

It's not better than "Crouching Tiger", but then again, they are two seperate entities. I would take Crouching for best film, but I give best actor to Del Toro, hands down.

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Rhonda

Actually Del Toro is nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Yes, a good movie indeed - hats off to the color-work...dull, blue and gray for the city, and dull yellowish and orange for most of Mexico.

I KNOW Del Toro is nominated for Best SUPPORTING actor, but in my mind he was best actor. I thought he did more than Douglas in that movie.

I liked this movie a lot more that you did but I certainly understand and respect your opinion. I, too, loved Don Cheadle and Luiz Guzman in this movie and personally, I think Cheadle should have won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, not Del Toro. I also have to confess that I find Del Toro's part of the movie a little confusing and hard to follow, but I found the rest of the film to be really well done.