by Dean | Mar 25, 2012 | General
I’ve been suspicious of the 2011 film, Young Adult, and so resisted seeing it at the theatre. The other day, though, I watched it on DVD and realized my suspicion was justified.
The movie is about a successful but extremely impractical–in fact, mentally ill–woman called Mavis Gary, impeccably acted by Charlize Theron. The screenplay flops: it is written in such a way as to suggest that the author–Diablo Cody–is settling a score. The compassion she bestows on Mavis at the end is simply compassion Cody has for herself. Or so it seems.
Moreover, there is a scene with a fellow in a wheelchair which is essentially stupid, and a mildly upbeat conclusion to the film which is nothing but phony. Diablo Cody did a good job on the script for Juno, but director Jason Reitman, a valuable filmmaker, shouldn’t have bothered with this one.
Charlize Theron (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
by Dean | Mar 20, 2012 | General
He may be a Christian, but Bono is a pretentious performer, and the filmed concert in U2 3D (2007) is often propagandistic. Admittedly, however, the 3D in this IMAX presentation makes the event–a U2 Latin American tour–even more exciting than it already is, and the crowd footage fascinates. The musicianship pleases, in my estimation–that of guitarist The Edge, bass player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. As for the songs . . . well, “Vertigo” is a stirring number on disc, but in concert it sounded wretched. “With or Without You” is hardly good even on disc, but “New Year’s Day,” a stand-out, is indestructible. “Pride (In the Name of Love)” is catchy; it too sounded good.
Not so “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” worthless lyrics and all, around which Bono crafted a political didacticism about co-existence among Christians, Jews and Muslims–a message your average dedicated Islamist will fiercely reject. And there’s anti-war propaganda as well, which is fine, but U2’s obtuse, political Christian witness is not my kind of witness.
The music here usually sounds tuneless, but even on CD it’s not all that memorable. To be sure, there are some likable things about U2 3D. A lot of rock music fans will eat it up, notwithstanding, to me, it has little to recommend it.
U2 3D (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)
by Dean | Mar 14, 2012 | General
Why another movie about Moses, even from a Bible-series production company–Promenade Pictures? I don’t know, except that this Ten Commandments, from 2007, covers material well beyond the liberation of the children of Israel from Egypt. Not only are the plagues there, so is the constant carping of the Israelites in the desert, the heavenly provision of water and manna, the worship of the golden calf, and much praying by a harried Moses. In point of fact, it is a movie somewhat more about God than about the great Hebrew leader who follows Him, and this too makes it distinctive.
The dialogue is certainly less imaginative than that in Cecil B. DeMille’s film, but the Promenade Pictures TTC offers captivating, CGI-heavy animation. I like it despite the characters’ being quite robotic. God, by the way, is voiced by Elliott Gould! But it works.
Image via Wikipedia
by Dean | Mar 8, 2012 | General
The Iranian film, A Separation (2011), is as splendid as all the critics have said it is. It is skillfully directed and shrewdly, fascinatingly written by one man: Asghar Farhadi. The drama–all about a shattering conflict involving two families–is full-steam-ahead and tragic, but not despairing.
One of the movie’s themes is the human inclination to use lies for protection, for a refuge. By no means does Farhadi condone lying, but he shows us circumstances in which people either lie or they are doomed. Another theme is that which the title points to: separation between family members, between husbands and wives, and what is wrought by this.
Not surprisingly, the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of 2011 went to A Separation. How come American filmmakers failed to produce anything even approximating this work?
Image via Wikipedia
(In Persian with English subtitles)
by Dean | Mar 4, 2012 | General
The Washington politicians in Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 (2011) want a basically socialistic system for the U.S.–and they want greater power than they already have. They lead the nation in adopting the following view: altruism good, big-business bad; but this does nothing to restore a blighted America. The widespread use of passenger trains which I believe to exist in Ayn Rand’s novel exists in this film too, but here, in 2016, the trains are used because no one can afford air travel. The pols are letting the country slip into economic hell, with the worst possible legislation gradually forthcoming. For example, an “equalization” law prohibits people like steelmaker Hank Reardon from owning more than one business.
I’ve seen Atlas once in the theatre and once–and half of it twice–on DVD, and I’m ready to make my pronouncement: it’s a good film. Yes, it’s full of two-dimensional characters and it shovels out more information than your average person can absorb (which is why it should be seen more than once), but it’s also fresh and properly paced and near-cerebral. It’s talky, but not without overt drama. The allegation that the movie is ineptly made is largely false. Even most of the acting is more successful than I originally thought.
Here’s one more thing: Yep, leave it to Congress to come up with a name as banal (and stupid) as “anti-dog-eat-dog law” for a piece of legislation. Hopeless.
Directed by Paul Johansson.
(Photo: Taylor Schilling as Dagney Taggart)
- Image via Wikipedia
by Dean | Feb 26, 2012 | General
I am inspired by the success of The Artist to write about an even better silent film–1927’s It.
The title refers not to a sci-fi creature but to that dazzling human quality which entices members of the opposite sex, and herein Clara Bow enacts (outstandingly) a comely character with It. She’s a frisky salesgirl who falls for her handsome boss, and vice versa. Because of a misunderstanding, the boss thinks the salesgirl has been non-virginal enough to have given birth to a child and so he spurns her. The Bow character is taken aback by the boss’s failure to give her the benefit of the doubt . . .
Directed by Clarence Badger and an uncredited Josef von Sternberg (why did it need two directors?), it’s a well-made, charming, amusing rom-com and a perfect vehicle for Bow with her wholesome face and killer eyes. It’s very much a girl-in-love role.
Available on DVD.
Clara Bow (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)
