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themadstork
Reviews
Equilibrium (2002)
not bad, but could have easily been so much better
"Equilibrium" is one those annoying movies which gets enough things right that the viewer can see how it might have been good or even great, but which still falls short. A good many reviewers have made a big deal over the fact that the movie takes ideas from "1984" and "Brave New World," but so what? At least it has something serious, and timely, to say; and what's more its dystopia actually makes sense in its twisted way. Both of these aren't things I could say for "The Matrix." So I won't fault it for taking ideas from elsewhere, at least Wimmer is thinking over serious ideas instead of just giving us a gun fu spectacle. The problem is that the movie just doesn't think through these ideas on a deep enough level. The movie comes very close to raising some really unsettling questions: Are the very things that make us capable of true humanity, the things that can cause our inhumanity to one another? In other words does the capacity for real good require the very things that can make us evil? Or: Is deadening all your feelings not a fairly sane response to the blasted post-apocalyptic world the characters find themselves in? It comes close to a critique of our use of pharmaceuticals to mold our characters into the "right" shape and ward off all those bad feelings and a defense of the idea that at least some suffering- passion in the old sense of the world- might be necessary for a truly human existence. The problem is that while it comes close to these questions, it ends up veering away from complex and controversial issues like these and doesn't take any stand that's all that unsettling or irritating: Puppies are good. Totalitarianism is bad. Quite true, but not exactly original either. Then there's the plot. At it's base it's not preposterous. . . but it does have a good many elements that are hard to swallow. To make them work would require a bit of stage setting and some finesse, but the movie is in such a hurry that it doesn't have time for either. In the end the viewer is left to make a good many excuses and even if he or she does it still only barely makes sense. Still "Equilibrium" has a good bit going for it. It looks good. The art deco aesthetic is coldly beautiful and it just fits the character of the regime so perfectly. While I'm not great fan of gun fu, the movie does it well. I have to say the gun fights and other fight scenes are nicely choreographed (even if I do find prettified violence a bit objectionable); I prefer it over the Wachowsky brothers computerized trickery. The acting is also quite good. Watson and Bale can both get more meaning into a glance here than many actors can into a soliloquy. Diggs isn't bad either, though he leans just a bit to ham in a role that needs just a bit more smarmy menace. And the children are deeply creepy in just the right way. All in all it's better than your standard "Matrix" rip off; I'd even go so far as to say it's better than "The Matrix" (though that isn't gushing praise, I found "The Matrix" pretty silly), but it isn't a great movie. And that's the rub, there's enough that this movie does right that one can easily see how it might have been more than the competent, moderately intelligent action film it is. This makes it all the more annoying that Wimmer is so sloppy about plot and plays it so safe with the dangerous ideas he's put his hands on.
Jigoku (1960)
Kind of a mess
I picked this one up on a lark and I was pretty underwhelmed. The opening is both stylish and genuinely creepy with its laments, wrapped corpses, and surreal hellscapes, and it segués cleverly into a college lecture hall where our protagonist, a young theology student it seems, is listening to a lecture on concepts of hell. It's by no means fair to say that it's all down hill from there, but the movie only intermittently reaches the same heights. There are deeply unsettling and scary moments, but they're balanced by lot of ho hum bits and few others that almost set one to giggling. The plot is a complete mess it pulls credulity to bits and keeps on ripping and its all so rushed that there's neither time to build any real suspense or develop the characters. This is another problem: The female lead is a stereotypical picture of what I take to be a traditional Japanese idea of womanly virtue and the protagonist is just kind of wishy washy and uninteresting. His demonic friend and tormentor Tamura steals every scene he's in; the actor was clearly having a blast chewing up the scenery. And he succeeds wonderfully in what (I presume) he's supposed to do, which is making evil look a lot more fun than our hero's imperfect handwringing sort of virtue. But of course all the plot and real world stuff is just to set up hell right? Well the hell doesn't redeem it. It's often beautiful in a sick sort of way (Brueghel has a run for his money here) and viscerally repulsive, but while it might shock and perhaps even awe the viewer at points it's more gory and repulsive than unsettling. I suppose my reaction might be culturally conditioned, perhaps it would get under the skin of a Buddhist much more than it did a (somewhat lapsed) Christian like myself, but this brings me to another point: The theology is harsh as well you know. Almost everyone's evil and even the people who've committed fairly understandable and, I'd think, forgivable sins end up in hell. I grew up in an avowedly evangelical church and their theology was much more forgiving and understanding of human weakness. Sometimes we seem to have landed in the world of those terror tracts some churches in my home town used to pass out; there's a definite air of grim disapproval (whether affected or genuine I can't tell) for the sinful modern world hanging over the thing that's so stodgy it's more than a little funny. I'll give it high marks for the visual style and for the cool jazz that floats through and most of the actors acquit themselves quite well (though some don't have too much to work with). But to say that makes a complete mess of plot, pacing, and characterization is, if anything, kind.
Les carabiniers (1963)
lousy, even when judged on it's own terms, but typical godard
Godard might very well have set out to make an anti-war movie with Truffaut's comment that a truly anti-war film was impossible in mind, but even judged solely as an anti-war statement this film's a failure. Why? Well for one thing, Truffaut may have been a genius, but on this score he was certainly wrong. There definitely is a danger of aestheticizing anything you put on film, especially if you do it well (think of just how beautiful Sam Peckinpah can make a massacre), but aestheticizing war doesn't mean you can't successfully make an anti-war film. Think of "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "The Grand Illusion," or the more recent "Downfall." All are fairly conventional war films and none of them exactly make one want to go out and enlist. "The Grand Illusion," and to a lesser extent "Bridge on the River Kwai," paint a romantic picture of war only to undercut it later. You can't help coming away from those films with the message that, while there might be some nobility in war and the ideals that allow men to fight, both war and the ideals that motivate it are a form of madness. "Downfall" is a completely conventional war film, but it never makes war look like anything other than dirty, terrifying and completely insane. And to me this seems exactly the way one should make an anti-war film. Engage in dialogue with those who might find some nobility in war, admit their point, and try to show what's wrong with it while admitting its appeal; or show just how ugly, brutal, dehumanizing, and insane war is with as much realism as you possibly can. "Les Carbiniers" does neither. It's a smug statement aimed at those who already think that all war is wrong and anyone who fights in one degenerate and evil. People in that camp will no doubt find much to agree with, though little to entertain them, but anyone not so convinced will probably just be bored and angry. And who is it one's trying to reach with an anti-war movie anyway? In the end Godard succeeds too well at making an ugly film. Everyone here is either thoroughly nasty, helpless, or silly. It's kind of like Evelyn Waught at his nastiest, only not nearly as funny. In the scene where the captured partisans are shot Godard seems to me to mock the very idea of human dignity. But what is it that makes war so bad? Isn't it that people get killed? If people are as worthless as this film makes out, who really cares if they get killed? Even Waugh didn't' go quite so far; one always found a few noble fools here and there. The movie isn't a total wash. It might not be Waugh, but it is nastily funny here and there, and Godard was a pretty good craftsman when it came to film. Unfortunately, when you get down to it, this might be Godard's most characteristic film. Godard and Truffaut are often linked, but really ther films aren't alike. With Truffaut one always finds sympathy for his characters and there's just a certain warmth and light touch that permeate almost everything he did. One certainly doesn't find that in Godard. Yes there's craft and cleverness here, but also coldness, cynicism, and a failure to understand, or possibly care about, basic human emotion. To me that's what's characteristic of Godard; it's on display even in Godard's "more accessible" (I'd say "better") films like "Band of Outsiders," but nowhere is it clearer than in "Les Carabiniers," which might make it the best Godard film to start with if you really want to get an idea of the man and his work. Truffaut was a humanist in the true sense of the term, whereas Godard, like too many French intellectuals, subscibes to Ivan Karamazov's line: He loves humanity (in the abstract of course) and hates human beings.
Bottle Rocket (1993)
pulp fictionish
I could be wrong but it seems to me that Wilson and Anderson were under the spell of Tarantino when they wrote this one; this is especially true of the dialogue, which is chock full of clever pop culture references and seems just a little too self-satisfied. This isn't at all true of the finished Bottle Rocket; rather than trying to be Pulp Fiction it shows us a bunch of likable ne'er do wells who've watched stuff like Pulp Fiction a few too many times. The short is interesting and it shows off Anderson's talent, but the just how good Anderson and Wilson are is only hinted at here. If you love Bottle Rocket and Rushmore as much as I do and you get a chance to see this you should, but if you can't you're not missing anything too great.
La vita è bella (1997)
nauseating
There are very few movies, no matter how bad, where I come away personally disliking all those involved. "Life is Beautiful" is one of those movies. Why because beneath the shiny, happy coating "Life is Beautiful" embodies a narcisstic and almost nihilistic view of the world; I say this because Begnini et al. are apparently willing to use genocide to infuse a poorly written, badly acted, and sloppily directed movie with dignity it doesn't deserve. And make no mistake this movie is all three. The drama is fake, the segments don't flow, the acting sophomoric, the history laughable, and the characters stereotypes at best. Begnini can do slapstick and there is a funny bit or two, but these add up to nothing and seem positively grotesque in light of what comes later. This movie is the most banal and manipulative sort of crowd pleaser, the sort that assumes the crowd is composed entirely of idiots, but because it nominally concerns the holocaust otherwise intelligent people are unwilling to call the movies cynical little game for what it is, fearing the -"What you didn't like 'Life is Beautiful?!' No don't say anything else you don't have a soul," or the more common, "Well go back to your Jerry Bruckheimer movies." Well in all honesty that's an insult to Mr. Bruckheimer. His movies may insult my intelligence, but never to the level this movie did. At the predictable and overdone ending I remember thinking, "I know what you want me to do movie, but there's no way I'm buying." Worse this movie is an insult to anyone who had to suffer because of the Nazis and their fascist allies. Watching this movie I'm reminded of how Salem, MA uses historical atrocity as a kitchy tourist draw (going so far as to put witches on broomsticks on the sides of police cars). Begnini uses the holocaust to draw in suckers in the same way. Group Mr. Begnini with the all those in the holocaust industry who are willing to use the worst atrocity of the 20th century to open wallets and flatter their inflated egos. Beyond being an insult to the victims of National Socialism this movie is terrible because it crowds out much better movies on the same subject. Everyone chalks in "Life is Beautiful" as their art movie of the month and ignores better movies on the holocaust like "The Ogre," "Invincible," or "Heimat."
Kaubôi bibappu: Cowboy Bebop (1998)
an exception
Words fail me when I try to describe how much I don't like anime. Meandering complicated plots that add up to nothing (I still remember the "What in the world was that!? That makes no sense whatsoever." reaction I had to Akira and Ghost in the Shell), badly written, or perhaps badly translated dialogue, and those eyes as big as manhole covers. This I like though. The plots are sometimes a bit rushed, but it's got a great noir aesthetic, perfect soundtrack, just the right touch of desperate romanticism, and it's funny as heck. Even if you hate anime you ought to give this one a shot; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Tot Watchers (1958)
Not much better than Deitch
By this point Hanna and Barbera had gotten pretty lazy about Tom and Jerry. The animation isn't so good; it's worse than when Jones did them in fact, and the cartoon just isn't funny. The baby crawling in and out of danger is a gag that isn't funny to begin with and rapidly becomes downright mind numbing, and the baby sitter beating Tom and Jerry just irritates me. Compared to Deitch it isn't too bad; it doesn't seem like a Tom and Jerry themed nightmare you might have, but it shows how far they'd fallen from their glory days.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
liked it when I was a kid
Well I know 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea won't get mentioned in the same breath as Douglas in Spartacus or Paths of Glory or Mason's turn in Lolita, but this was one of those movies I must have bugged my parents and my uncle into renting a good seven or eight times. It has this cool Wild, Wild West sort of aesthetic I've never forgotten. It's heads and shoulders above ninety percent of the adventure movies they make now, and it's pretty appropriate for kids.
Bob Roberts (1992)
trite, preachy, and paranoid
Bob Roberts could have been a great political satire. Picture it a shallow, mean spirited man with no real political experience but tons of big business backing runs as some sort of down home populist folk singer against a slightly corrupt but basically good Tip O'Neill sort of figure. Both sides resort to below the belt attacks and while the folksinger is revealed to be utterly evil the old dinosaur he's running against gets his hands plenty dirty too before it's all over (maybe even engaging in some good old LBJ/Huey Long style vote fraud before all is said and done, just a thought). Yep it could be great; unfortunately this isn't what you get here. What we have is a Christlike figure (played in such a saccarine and innocent manner by Gore Vidal that one almost expects him to have the big eyes those creepy precious moments dolls have) in the sitting Senator beset by the forces of absolute evil as embodied by Roberts (who is clearly meant to be a sort of Reagan). This sort of smug self-righteous preachiness is bad enough, and in my opinion it's liberals who practice it who've given the rest of us a bad name, but it gets worse. Robbins duly descends in to the worst sort of paranoid conspiracty theories, which I won't reveal so as not to "spoil" the movie, but I'd put them on the LBJ killed Kennedy or Ike is a communist stooge poisoning our drinking water level of sheer stupidity. With friends like Robbins we liberals scarcely need enemies.
Timid Tabby (1957)
pretty solid
This isn't one of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons, but the concept is nice and they carry it out pretty well. The one downside is that the animation isn't nearly as good here as it was when Quimby was in charge. Much better than those wretched things with the babysitter and the baby though; with the exception of Deitch those are the low point of the series.
Nashville (1975)
boring, unfocused, pretentious, and very overrated
I can't for the life of me figure out why this is taken to be one of Altman's best films. The songs are terrible, which might be the point. We never focus long enough on any character to really care about them, and I don't think Mr. Altman knew a thing about Nashville or country music. There are a lot of things here like the campaign van that I'm sure grad students everywhere take to be clever metaphors for grand things, but I'm not so sure about that. I can't decide whether this or 'Popeye' is Altman's worst film. At any rate despite the hype it is a very weak film. The whole method was used much better in 'Short Cuts.'
High Steaks (1962)
ambitiously bad
I saw this one and Sorry Safari when I was a kid and they've stuck in my head. I just plain hated it then and hate it now. It isn't just that the animation is bad and the sound effects like something out of a nightmare; these cartoons have a sadistic streak a mile wide. When I watch these entries in the Tom and Jerry series I can't help but dislike Mr. Deitch, not just for the shoddy production values but for even thinking these things up in the first place. Jerry is just plain evil here and in the others, and Tom exists to be tortured. In the Deitch year Tom and Jerry really was about like the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons on The Simpsons. The only one of the lot that's any good at all is the Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit.
The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit (1962)
not that bad
Okay so it's pretty far out there, but it isn't as bad as the safari one or the one where the same guy is barbecuing. Those are really, really wretched. Almost as bad as the series where Tom and Jerry are actually friends. I don't know maybe I just appreciate weird, but I thought there were a few cool moments in this one.
Kaubôi bibappu: Cowboy Bebop (1998)
an exception
Words fail me when I try to describe how much I don't like anime. Meandering complicated plots that add up to nothing (I still remember the "What in the world was that!? That makes no sense whatsoever." reaction I had to Akira and Ghost in the Shell), badly written, or perhaps badly translated dialogue, and those eyes as big as manhole covers. This I like though. The plots are sometimes a bit rushed, but it's got a great noir aesthetic, perfect soundtrack, just the right touch of desperate romanticism, and it's funny as heck. Even if you hate anime you ought to give this one a shot; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Spider (2002)
slow start but good
This movie takes a little too long setting things up, a good thirty minutes or so, but once it really starts it's quite good. A good bit has been made of Richardson and Fiennes' performances (deservedly so), but Byrne is also darn good, and you won't realize just how good until you get to the end of the movie. Spider isn't flawless, besides the slow start one can probably pretty well guess what the end will be long before it comes, but the acting is great, Cronenberg creates a perfect dispiriting, diseased aesthetic, and the movie's creepy in the way that sticks with you after you've left the theater, which I'm sure is just what Cronenberg was after. 8/10
Bottle Rocket (1993)
pulp fictionish
I could be wrong but it seems to me that Wilson and Anderson were under the spell of Tarantino when they wrote this one; this is especially true of the dialogue, which is chock full of clever pop culture references and seems just a little too self-satisfied. This isn't at all true of the finished Bottle Rocket; rather than trying to be Pulp Fiction it shows us a bunch of likable ne'er do wells who've watched stuff like Pulp Fiction a few too many times. The short is interesting and it shows off Anderson's talent, but the just how good Anderson and Wilson are is only hinted at here. If you love Bottle Rocket and Rushmore as much as I do and you get a chance to see this you should, but if you can't you're not missing anything too great.