What happened to Roman Polanski was a bit of a cloudy thing to me until I watched this engrossing documentary on HBO a few months ago that is now being relased in movie theatres.
I knew about the rape charge and the fact that he can't come to the US without getting arrested and all of that, but this film really helps you understand the details, from a celebrity-obsessed judge to the perspective of the woman who was then barely a teen.
I can't decide if the film wants you to have more sympathy for Polanski than perhaps you should. It certainly goes to great lengths to remind you that he is a genius filmmaker, and perhaps that is manipulative. But then again, go watch "The Pianist" again and then tell me you don't have at least a little affection for this guy.
And think about what other Hollywood insiders do behind closed doors. Who knows if Polanski was just one who got caught.
Worth your time if you love movies, because it puts into perspective one of its biggest scandals.
3.0 out of 4
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Dark Knight (2008)
"The only justice in an unfair world is chance," philosophizes Harvey "Two-Face" Dent toward the end of the often brilliant but ass-numbingly long THE DARK KNIGHT.
It's a great line made even better by what followed (something about an unjust world...can't remember), but for me, THE DARK KNIGHT started to lose a little luster toward the end as this message started to be shoved down our throats like The Joker's knives to the corners of his victims' mouths.
ALRIGHT! WE GET IT!
We don't get that this wonderful, just D.A. could change so dramatically just because of "RACHEEEEEEEEELLLLL!!!," but we get the point. And therein lies what is probably my biggest beef with a movie that I otherwise LOVED. So I'll skip the obvious (such as Heath Ledger's performance, because everythinging good you've heard about it is completely true and not overblown), and tell you my three main grievances:
1. The Dent story arc starts to drive the train off the track. It needs to be there because it clarifies some of the Joker's actions in corrupting the uncorruptable, which is amplified when he tries to provoke Batman to kill him. But as I mentioned earlier, the theme gets hammered home too ridiculously. We are smart viewers...we got it already!
2. Sweet Home, Chi-gotham. Sorry...all I saw was Chicago. Couldn't shake it. It was Windy City Batman. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE that they shot it here and I'm headed to Lower Wacker tonight to relive the memories. But I think us Chicagoans are at a disadvantage on this one. Bummer.
3. TOO LONG. I thought when you loved something you could never get enough. My rear end objects. This film was 20 minutes too long. When you make a 2 1/2 hour long comic book film, you are becoming self-important. Dark is fine, self-important is not.
These are ultimately minor quibbles, but I vent them here because everyone else is treating this film like the second coming of D.W. Griffith. And it is AWESOME. But it's not perfect.
3.5 out of 4
It's a great line made even better by what followed (something about an unjust world...can't remember), but for me, THE DARK KNIGHT started to lose a little luster toward the end as this message started to be shoved down our throats like The Joker's knives to the corners of his victims' mouths.
ALRIGHT! WE GET IT!
We don't get that this wonderful, just D.A. could change so dramatically just because of "RACHEEEEEEEEELLLLL!!!," but we get the point. And therein lies what is probably my biggest beef with a movie that I otherwise LOVED. So I'll skip the obvious (such as Heath Ledger's performance, because everythinging good you've heard about it is completely true and not overblown), and tell you my three main grievances:
1. The Dent story arc starts to drive the train off the track. It needs to be there because it clarifies some of the Joker's actions in corrupting the uncorruptable, which is amplified when he tries to provoke Batman to kill him. But as I mentioned earlier, the theme gets hammered home too ridiculously. We are smart viewers...we got it already!
2. Sweet Home, Chi-gotham. Sorry...all I saw was Chicago. Couldn't shake it. It was Windy City Batman. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE that they shot it here and I'm headed to Lower Wacker tonight to relive the memories. But I think us Chicagoans are at a disadvantage on this one. Bummer.
3. TOO LONG. I thought when you loved something you could never get enough. My rear end objects. This film was 20 minutes too long. When you make a 2 1/2 hour long comic book film, you are becoming self-important. Dark is fine, self-important is not.
These are ultimately minor quibbles, but I vent them here because everyone else is treating this film like the second coming of D.W. Griffith. And it is AWESOME. But it's not perfect.
3.5 out of 4
Hancock (2008)
Sometimes I surprise myself and enjoy something even when it's a bit of a mess.
Maybe it was my lowered expectations going in, but HANCOCK ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
Let me get one thing out of the way -- I did not like the camera work. In fact, I think it made me sick because my eyes still hurt seven hours later. Too much hand-held closeup crap...too clausterphobic for its subject matter.
And yes, the story is a hot mess in some ways. But I guess I was so turned on by the premise of a rude superhero who resents his abilities, as well as the concept of the reprocussions (both financial and social) of a superhero's antics, that I ended up being quite entertained.
It was fun to see a crabby Will Smith and I always love seeing Jason Bateman. Here, his role suited him perfectly.
For once, I didn't think too much and was rewarded for it. HANCOCK was exactly what I wanted to see on this hot, summer day! Fun.
3.0 out of 4
Maybe it was my lowered expectations going in, but HANCOCK ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
Let me get one thing out of the way -- I did not like the camera work. In fact, I think it made me sick because my eyes still hurt seven hours later. Too much hand-held closeup crap...too clausterphobic for its subject matter.
And yes, the story is a hot mess in some ways. But I guess I was so turned on by the premise of a rude superhero who resents his abilities, as well as the concept of the reprocussions (both financial and social) of a superhero's antics, that I ended up being quite entertained.
It was fun to see a crabby Will Smith and I always love seeing Jason Bateman. Here, his role suited him perfectly.
For once, I didn't think too much and was rewarded for it. HANCOCK was exactly what I wanted to see on this hot, summer day! Fun.
3.0 out of 4
Freedom Writers (2007)
I'm not sure if it's fair to call something cliche when it supposedly really happened, but even as an English teacher, I didn't feel like I was watching anything new with FREEDOM WRITERS. Hilary Swank, who I always think is good, was appropriately naive and green in the film as a first year teacher unprepared for the treachery of Room 203 at Wilson High in South Central L.A. And though I know that her devotion to her job did, in real life, cause her to take on part time jobs to subsidise her charity and cost her her marriage, it all felt so obvious.
What's worse, it reminded me that teachers in films are consistently shown as trainwrecks outside of the classroom, with no ability to manage their personal lives. Any teacher who does not devote him or herself to this extent, I guess, is not a very good teacher. And I take issue with that.
That being said, I felt like the methods the teacher used to get through to her kids were spot on and the performances were authentic. There were even some inspired moments. But there was nothing new to say here. Just the same old white person doesn't understand a minority person's hard life and can't be trusted but eventually gains trust...la la la.
2.5 out of 4
What's worse, it reminded me that teachers in films are consistently shown as trainwrecks outside of the classroom, with no ability to manage their personal lives. Any teacher who does not devote him or herself to this extent, I guess, is not a very good teacher. And I take issue with that.
That being said, I felt like the methods the teacher used to get through to her kids were spot on and the performances were authentic. There were even some inspired moments. But there was nothing new to say here. Just the same old white person doesn't understand a minority person's hard life and can't be trusted but eventually gains trust...la la la.
2.5 out of 4
WALL-E (2008)
Chaplin for the post-modern era.
Here it is, a masterpiece. And I don't throw that around lightly. This just about blows away everything of its ilk from recent memory. It has a love story far more touching than anything like "27 Dresses," a science fiction plot that tips its hat to "2001," and an environmental message that makes the dreadful "An Inconvenient Truth" look like a hot, steaming pile of pork barrel propaganda.
To say that I was taken with WALL-E is an understatement.
I was TRANSPORTED.
I was stunned by the quality of the message and the layers and levels here. As a film teacher, I could fit this movie in more than a half-dozen thematic units. It reminded me of "Modern Times" in its criticism of human reliance on machines and "City Lights" when it came to the love story.
I was surprised by how much more I cared about this rusted box than I have for the people in the last half dozen movies I have seen combined. I could go on and on, but won't. Feel free to contact me and I will go on and on some more...MADE MY HEART SING.
4.0 out of 4
Here it is, a masterpiece. And I don't throw that around lightly. This just about blows away everything of its ilk from recent memory. It has a love story far more touching than anything like "27 Dresses," a science fiction plot that tips its hat to "2001," and an environmental message that makes the dreadful "An Inconvenient Truth" look like a hot, steaming pile of pork barrel propaganda.
To say that I was taken with WALL-E is an understatement.
I was TRANSPORTED.
I was stunned by the quality of the message and the layers and levels here. As a film teacher, I could fit this movie in more than a half-dozen thematic units. It reminded me of "Modern Times" in its criticism of human reliance on machines and "City Lights" when it came to the love story.
I was surprised by how much more I cared about this rusted box than I have for the people in the last half dozen movies I have seen combined. I could go on and on, but won't. Feel free to contact me and I will go on and on some more...MADE MY HEART SING.
4.0 out of 4
Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
While the concept of CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR has its complications (e.g. explaining to a general audience the political allegances of Afghanis and Pakistanis), I found this film to be surprisingly flat because it wasn't complicated enough.
Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) takes it upon himself to do something bigger than just secure money for his Texas congressional district by getting involved in the Middle East, and since this is based on a true story, you can't question whether or not you can buy that he'd do so because it happened. For me, that was probably the most shocking part: that this particular guy would be interested in this conflict and that he could pull off the fundraising for it. But welcome to American politics, where things like this can actually happen.
I wanted MORE of the fundraising activity captured on film and I wish that the conflicts communicated here had been expanded to give us a broader sense of the global picture. I would have liked to have more mention of Reagan and Gorbachev and maybe even include a few more famous congressmen as touchpoints.
Since we are to believe that this guy essentially ended the Cold War, I would have even enjoyed stock footage of the famous Reagan speech in Berlin for irony.
I found Sorkin's script easy to follow but not nearly funny enough. Thank God for Philip Seymour Hoffman, who nearly had me wetting myself. The film's true bright spot in an otherwise surprisingly one-level and dry documentary-ish delivery.
2.0 out of 4
Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) takes it upon himself to do something bigger than just secure money for his Texas congressional district by getting involved in the Middle East, and since this is based on a true story, you can't question whether or not you can buy that he'd do so because it happened. For me, that was probably the most shocking part: that this particular guy would be interested in this conflict and that he could pull off the fundraising for it. But welcome to American politics, where things like this can actually happen.
I wanted MORE of the fundraising activity captured on film and I wish that the conflicts communicated here had been expanded to give us a broader sense of the global picture. I would have liked to have more mention of Reagan and Gorbachev and maybe even include a few more famous congressmen as touchpoints.
Since we are to believe that this guy essentially ended the Cold War, I would have even enjoyed stock footage of the famous Reagan speech in Berlin for irony.
I found Sorkin's script easy to follow but not nearly funny enough. Thank God for Philip Seymour Hoffman, who nearly had me wetting myself. The film's true bright spot in an otherwise surprisingly one-level and dry documentary-ish delivery.
2.0 out of 4
27 Dresses (2008)
A romantic comedy with no romance and no comedy. Even my wife was bored and apologized afterward for making me watch it. Enough said.
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