Apocalypto (2006)

Apocalypto (2006)

This movie could also be called Good Things Roman Catholics Have Done For the World, that is, if you define "world" as South America and "good thigs" as savagery equal or greater than that depicted in the movie. Anyway, there isn't much of a story, the movie is mostly spectacle. It held my attention, like Mel Gibson's Braveheart, but did little more than that. The problem for Gibson here was for us to get us to care about Jaguar Claw, involved with him and his life, the two obstacles the obstacles being language (the mnovie is subtitled) and culture. It did not work because we did not know enough about him, did not get to empathize. At the end I did not feel cheated by the deus ex machina, nor did I feel satisfied, I was just slightly short of being happy it was over.

The absurdly macho pyrotechnics of Smokin' Aces. - By Dana Stevens - Slate Magazine

The absurdly macho pyrotechnics of Smokin' Aces. - By Dana Stevens - Slate Magazine: "The weirdly magnetic Piven is the only reason I still watch HBO's Entourage (which I've inveighed against here and here). He's a mercurial actor, one of the few I could imagine effecting the transition from magician to gang lord. (Isn't it always the way? One minute they're pulling bunnies from hats, the next they're collecting protection money.) But Piven is powerless to combat the deep stupidity of this role, and his performance ranges from adequate (in the comic scenes) to excruciating (in the 'tragic' ones). At the movie's puzzling dramatic nadir, Buddy stares blearily into the bathroom mirror, wearing a single bright-blue contact lens, as a tear rolls down his cheek. I wish my insurance covered Lasik surgery too, but you don't see me crying about it."

Grindhouse is bloody good. - By Dana Stevens - Slate Magazine

Grindhouse is bloody good. - By Dana Stevens - Slate Magazine: "But Death Proof is a reminder of what there was to like about Tarantino in the first place: his uncanny ear for dialogue that's at once naturalistic and deliriously wordy, his kinetic action sequences, and his voracious love for cinema in all its incarnations, especially the sleazy ones. With its lean 90-minute running time and a near-complete absence of CGI, Death Proof feels like an experiment in austerity after more than a decade in which Tarantino had free run of the special-effects candy store. And it works fabulously, much to the surprise of this generally Tarantino-weary writer."

If I want original I will so somewhere else, look somewhere other than the "romantic comedy" genre. Part of why I liked Music and Lyrics is the fact that it is so predictable. the genre has a rhythm. Meeting then growing attraction then signs of death, then break up, then the great climactic reconnection. The pattern of the story is just a canvas, however, just like the death of the bad guy at the end of an action movie. How the bad guy dies, and how bad he is is the real art, just like in a Hugh Grant movie, variations in how charming, how funny, how much he can avoid annoying you, are the tools of self-expression.

The movie itself, is about two strangers writing a pop-song, and it's funny if you get the references, if you know who Wham or A-ha or Duran Duran were. Barrymore is, as she always is, winning and sweet and vulnerable to the point where you wish that people like that existed in real life and that you knew them and they liked you. Grant has a very definite sense of humor, I always knew it, even when he was annoying me and in this movie, beset by age, he shows it more than in any film before. They sold me the story, and I liked it.

Music & Lyrics

Hugh Grant ... Alex Fletcher
Drew Barrymore ... Sophie Fisher
Brad Garrett ... Chris Riley
Kristen Johnston ... Rhonda Fisher
Campbell Scott ... Sloan Cates
Scott Porter ... Colin Thompson


Technorati Tags: Hugh, Grant, Drew, Barrymore, Music, Lyrics, movie, film, review, movies, comedy, romantic, 80's, wham, duran+duran, pop, music, writing

I never got to see this one because none of the video stores I frequented had it in stock. It's not your average person's idea of a comedy. Not to say that there is anything wrong with liking average comedy, just that this is isn't it.

One sentence summary: Amoral asshole dad tries to win back the favor of his genius family.

No, it doesn't sound like much with a one-sentence summary, but it's one of those movies that work on quirk and low-key dryness. I would have said that Bill Murray would have been excellent as Royal Tenenbaum except Gene Hackman did such a brilliant job. Is there anything quite as funny as an uninhibited, remorseless liar? Well, in this movie there isn't. Hackman as Tenenbaum steals every scene and makes you like him long before he tries to change his ways. Something about the fact that he never gives up, is never discouraged, reads spy-novels and encyclopedias.

Technorati Tags: Royal, Tenenbaums, movie, comedy, cinema, DVD, film, Gene, Hackman, Anjelica, Huston, Gwymeth, Paltrow, Luke, Wilson, Owen, Ben, Stiller,

Man Rips Wife's Eyes Out

A MAN who ripped out his wife's eyes in a fit of rage was sentenced by a French court to 30 years behind bars today.

Mohamed Hadfi, 31, tore out his 23-year-old wife Samira Bari's eyes following a heated argument in their apartment in the southern French city of Nimes in July 2003 after she refused to have sex with him.

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Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels

Have you seen Snatch? Well this is Snatch without the Pikies or the diamond. If you haven't seen Snatch, well, you should, but you should see this first.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is worth seeing because it has a cool title, yes, and because even though 80 percent of the plot was recycled for the smoother, more professional Snatch, it's still entertaining. The plot: 4 friends pool their savings for a high-stakes card game, only to lose it because the game is rigged. They wind up 500,000 pounds in the hole and must pay a violent criminal named Hatchet Harry (Bricktop without the pigs) or his henchman will cut their fingers off. Add to this a complicated set of subplots involving antique guns and stolen weed, and you have a fairly entertaining heist movie. Much of the acting is amateurish, very much like community-theater, but remember, the actors aren't the stars here, Guy Ritchie is. It's smartly written and smartly directed. Ritchie's content is very similar to Quentin Tarantino's in that both men seem heavily influenced by Elmore Leonard, but Richie's work feels more like a EL fast-paced books than Tarantino's.

Note that this is a British movie, with a wide range of regional English accents,  so if you are one of those people who can't understand people from other states, let alone from other countries, keep your subtitles on.

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