Possession (IMDB) (Netflix)
A big departure for Neil LaBute, director of often-savage contemporary comedies like Your Friends and Neighbors, In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty. "Possession" is about two simultaneous and problematic romances set in present day and Victorian England, the current one between academics Aaron Eckhart and Gwyneth Paltrow, who are trying to expose a juicy storyline about a famous married poet (Jeremy Northam) and his possible lover (Jennifer Ehle), who had been thought to be exclusively in a "Boston marriage," but may have played with the other team as well.
A more perceptive friend saw some continuity problems and a few actions that were inconsistent with either a character or the times, and there were even a couple of "wait a minute" moments for me. Despite these flaws, Possessions is both an entertaining and moving examination of relationships that, in the hands of decidely un-saccharin LaBute, doesn't deserve to be called a chick flick (the previews were full of trailers for those, karmic payback for the summer popcorn string we've enjoyed). The witty dialogue was marred only by the chucklehead sitting behind me, low profile actress Ehle has a breakthrough role as Northam's object of affection, and the transitions between the past and present are clever without being ostentatious.
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Signs (IMDB) (Netflix)
M. Night Shyamalan's latest spiritual thriller (after Sixth Sense and Unbreakable) starring Mel Gibson and crop circles. It's a multidimensional highwire act, balancing Gibson's loss of faith after a senseless tragedy, a series of unexplainable events, and mounting tension interspersed with relief valve humor.
Reactions to movies are often a function of expectations, sometimes inaccurate ("I thought it was going to be more...), and with the recent onslaught of sequels, increasingly well-managed ("I loved it; it was just like the first one."). With Shyamalan, you're getting thoughtful suspense with a message, not a creature feature, so it's important to keep that in mind walking in, and perhaps so should have the writer-director. The first nine-tenths of the movie were very strong, with a great cast hitting all the right notes (he seems to be an excellent director of kids) and careful pacing, but when the last veils were lifted, the presumably beautiful exotic dancer turns into the attractive college girl down the street; it does the job, but it's not all you had hoped for. Worth the trip for the 90% that's top shelf.
M. Night Shyamalan's latest spiritual thriller (after Sixth Sense and Unbreakable) starring Mel Gibson and crop circles. It's a multidimensional highwire act, balancing Gibson's loss of faith after a senseless tragedy, a series of unexplainable events, and mounting tension interspersed with relief valve humor.
Reactions to movies are often a function of expectations, sometimes inaccurate ("I thought it was going to be more...), and with the recent onslaught of sequels, increasingly well-managed ("I loved it; it was just like the first one."). With Shyamalan, you're getting thoughtful suspense with a message, not a creature feature, so it's important to keep that in mind walking in, and perhaps so should have the writer-director. The first nine-tenths of the movie were very strong, with a great cast hitting all the right notes (he seems to be an excellent director of kids) and careful pacing, but when the last veils were lifted, the presumably beautiful exotic dancer turns into the attractive college girl down the street; it does the job, but it's not all you had hoped for. Worth the trip for the 90% that's top shelf.
Monday, August 12, 2002
XXX (IMDB) (Netflix)
The pitch meeting must have gone very much like: "It's James Bond with a modern sensibility. Make him a buffed-out American, lose the tux, give him a bunch of tattoos and score it with headbanger music." Not a send-up like Austin Powers, more of a "move over, Jimmy, and let someone else take a crack at this goldmine."
Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is a one-man Dirty Dozen, blackmailed into working undercover for the National Security Agency (wrong spy outfit, guys) after pulling one too many menace-to-society publicity stunts. After that, it's a 007 film step-for-step, complete with a greasy unshaven Eastern European megalomaniac, willing bimbos and gadgets supplied by a junior version of Q. The stunts are more spectacular, if less believable, and the dialog hipper, if less witty. More than a Bond flick in many ways, but also less. Bring your earplugs.
The pitch meeting must have gone very much like: "It's James Bond with a modern sensibility. Make him a buffed-out American, lose the tux, give him a bunch of tattoos and score it with headbanger music." Not a send-up like Austin Powers, more of a "move over, Jimmy, and let someone else take a crack at this goldmine."
Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is a one-man Dirty Dozen, blackmailed into working undercover for the National Security Agency (wrong spy outfit, guys) after pulling one too many menace-to-society publicity stunts. After that, it's a 007 film step-for-step, complete with a greasy unshaven Eastern European megalomaniac, willing bimbos and gadgets supplied by a junior version of Q. The stunts are more spectacular, if less believable, and the dialog hipper, if less witty. More than a Bond flick in many ways, but also less. Bring your earplugs.
Saturday, August 10, 2002
Blood Work (IMDB) (Netflix)
A Clint Eastwood directed and headlined "police procedural," as they're called, but not much of a whodunit, given the blatant over-casting of a supporting role. Eastwood plays a retired FBI profiler with a transplanted heart who gets dragged into a murder case by the victim's sister (Wanda de Jesus). The new ticker is an inspired device to motivate our hero and create some vulnerability, but he's otherwise catnip to the much younger ladies in the film, even with a twelve inch scar running down his chest. All of this would be inspiring to the aging male but c'mon, the guy's seventy-freakin'-two years old.
Audiences will appreciate the laconic Eastwood style, the piecing together, the comic relief from, ah, comedian Paul Rodriguez, and a few Dirty Harry-esque touches of screw-the-procedures action. On the other hand, there are some clunky line readings (Clint doesn't shoot a lot of takes), little suspense and an ending that's stylistically uncharacteristic of the rest of the movie. Eastwood fans will be fine, but mostly a modest film with much to be modest about.
A Clint Eastwood directed and headlined "police procedural," as they're called, but not much of a whodunit, given the blatant over-casting of a supporting role. Eastwood plays a retired FBI profiler with a transplanted heart who gets dragged into a murder case by the victim's sister (Wanda de Jesus). The new ticker is an inspired device to motivate our hero and create some vulnerability, but he's otherwise catnip to the much younger ladies in the film, even with a twelve inch scar running down his chest. All of this would be inspiring to the aging male but c'mon, the guy's seventy-freakin'-two years old.
Audiences will appreciate the laconic Eastwood style, the piecing together, the comic relief from, ah, comedian Paul Rodriguez, and a few Dirty Harry-esque touches of screw-the-procedures action. On the other hand, there are some clunky line readings (Clint doesn't shoot a lot of takes), little suspense and an ending that's stylistically uncharacteristic of the rest of the movie. Eastwood fans will be fine, but mostly a modest film with much to be modest about.
Sunday, August 04, 2002
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (IMDB) (Netflix)
The most common search string to find Short and Sweet Movie Reviews is "sweet movie." There's the key word match, of course, but apparently a number of people are just looking for an endearing little film to get them through the evening. "Heart" might be one of those, but it's not the romance these folks were probably looking for.
Still photographer Sam Jones profiles Wilco, a highly respected Chicago band that still has yet to break big. As with so many lucky documentary filmmakers, he got more than he bargained for: the record company rejected their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot submission, leader Jeff Tweedy fired long-time member Jay Bennett, and the CD finally got released a year later in nicely ironic fashion. It's an art vs. commerce story, but we're not beaten over the head with that chestnut, and there's something about a bunch of seemingly decent guys trying to make music their way that plays better than it reads. Although "Heart" won't make anyone forget The Last Waltz or Woodstock, it's also a refreshing alternative to seeing entourage-laden bad boys moaning that no one understands how tough it is out there. Best suited for Wilco and documentary fans, but also for the searchers of sweet little movies with a beat.
The most common search string to find Short and Sweet Movie Reviews is "sweet movie." There's the key word match, of course, but apparently a number of people are just looking for an endearing little film to get them through the evening. "Heart" might be one of those, but it's not the romance these folks were probably looking for.
Still photographer Sam Jones profiles Wilco, a highly respected Chicago band that still has yet to break big. As with so many lucky documentary filmmakers, he got more than he bargained for: the record company rejected their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot submission, leader Jeff Tweedy fired long-time member Jay Bennett, and the CD finally got released a year later in nicely ironic fashion. It's an art vs. commerce story, but we're not beaten over the head with that chestnut, and there's something about a bunch of seemingly decent guys trying to make music their way that plays better than it reads. Although "Heart" won't make anyone forget The Last Waltz or Woodstock, it's also a refreshing alternative to seeing entourage-laden bad boys moaning that no one understands how tough it is out there. Best suited for Wilco and documentary fans, but also for the searchers of sweet little movies with a beat.
Friday, August 02, 2002
Full Frontal (IMDB) (Netflix)
Steven Soderbergh returns to his low-budget Sex, Lies and Videotape roots with a half-film-half-digital movie-in-a-movie-in-a-movie, give or take a movie. Soderbergh's favorite actress Julia Roberts joins indie film diva Catherine Keener and a cast of other competent B-list actors in one of those multi-storyline hall-of-mirrors Escher drawings that seem to attract directors with pretensions (cf. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Magnolia, Short Cuts). In the case of Soderbergh, who's made an impressive series of critically and commercially successful films (Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven), it might be misplaced guilt or just a storytelling Pilates exercise.
Plot outlines would be tedious, but there's a bunch of Hollywood nose-tweaking (and where's the challenge in that?), a lot of self-absorbed behavior, clearly improvised scenes and people testing other people for no damn reason. Give Soderbergh points for continually tackling different film styles, but here the constant internal refrain is "where's this going?" and the answer might be "to video, quickly."
Steven Soderbergh returns to his low-budget Sex, Lies and Videotape roots with a half-film-half-digital movie-in-a-movie-in-a-movie, give or take a movie. Soderbergh's favorite actress Julia Roberts joins indie film diva Catherine Keener and a cast of other competent B-list actors in one of those multi-storyline hall-of-mirrors Escher drawings that seem to attract directors with pretensions (cf. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Magnolia, Short Cuts). In the case of Soderbergh, who's made an impressive series of critically and commercially successful films (Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven), it might be misplaced guilt or just a storytelling Pilates exercise.
Plot outlines would be tedious, but there's a bunch of Hollywood nose-tweaking (and where's the challenge in that?), a lot of self-absorbed behavior, clearly improvised scenes and people testing other people for no damn reason. Give Soderbergh points for continually tackling different film styles, but here the constant internal refrain is "where's this going?" and the answer might be "to video, quickly."
Thursday, August 01, 2002
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (IMDB) (Netflix)
Time to catch up to some of the box office back markers. This little slice-of-life comedy "has legs"--it's been in theaters for several months and is enjoying good word of mouth, so there's something going on here.
Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the screenplay, plays a Greek-American woman on the verge of spinsterhood who "meets cute" with hunky non-Greek John Corbett ("Aiden" on "Sex and the City"). Hilarity apparently ensues as every oil-and-water situation between Greeks and WASPs is mined for comedy gold, but they don't dig very deep, so while the film is unassumingly charming and is indeed a crowd-pleaser, it's more a catalog of genre moments than a real story that stands on its own two feet. Some nice bits from SCTV's Andrea Martin, who adds much-needed edginess.
Time to catch up to some of the box office back markers. This little slice-of-life comedy "has legs"--it's been in theaters for several months and is enjoying good word of mouth, so there's something going on here.
Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the screenplay, plays a Greek-American woman on the verge of spinsterhood who "meets cute" with hunky non-Greek John Corbett ("Aiden" on "Sex and the City"). Hilarity apparently ensues as every oil-and-water situation between Greeks and WASPs is mined for comedy gold, but they don't dig very deep, so while the film is unassumingly charming and is indeed a crowd-pleaser, it's more a catalog of genre moments than a real story that stands on its own two feet. Some nice bits from SCTV's Andrea Martin, who adds much-needed edginess.
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