Batlefield Earth

This movie was so bad. It's hard to believe it made and meant to be taken seriously. In the special features on the DVD, the director claimed that the costumes were incredibly unique and that there's 'never been a science-fiction film made like this.' In reality this was one of the most generic sci-fi movies I've ever seen. The costumes looked like something stolen from the set of Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

I think it's appropriate that the original story was written by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology.

It was only tolerable because (and this is the real reason I rented it) I played a commentary track from Rifftrax. These are the guys that gave us Mystery Science Theater 3000. Maybe not as good as the older stuff, but still on-point. These guys are geniuses.

Human Nature

Terrible. It was only an hour and a half and I could barely sit through it. This really surprised me, being that it's written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry. I highly respect both of them, but they did not come through on this movie.

Malcolm X

This was a fascinating story about a man I knew very little about. Growing up I only learned that Dr. King advocated non-violence and Malcolm X advocated violence. There were so many aspects to him and changes throughout his life. I didn't know about the teachings of the Nation of Islam (I think I named that correctly) who had taken political advantage of the under-trodden Afro-Americans (as the film claimed they'd like to be called) to convince them of their ideals. And when Malcolm saw the organization for what it was he backed off his claim that all white people are evil. Which was just as incorrect as the depictions of a white Jesus and God. When he backed off, this is when he was assassinated.

I think that Dr. King had a much better message, as amazing and powerful as Ghandi had in India. But Malcolm's message in the end was very powerful as well.

Children of Men

I enjoyed it. It made a good attempt at producing a future Orwellian world. I especially like Michael Cain's character. He was a cool isolated hippy, but with taste and class. He made me wish that I smoked pot. I was a little disappointed with one aspect of the ending, but I won't ruin it for anyone.

Jungle Fever

I owe this movie a longer post than I'm going to give it. I should have written about it right after I watched it. But it's almost been a week. I enjoyed the movie. I like that Spike Lee paints realistic people in this movie, and his other movies. These two weren't Romeo and Juliet torn apart by their opposing cultures. They were two adults engaged in adultery. The relationship was wrong. Not because he was black and she was white, but because he was married and had a child.

Pan's Labyrinth

This was the best adult fairy tale I've seen. I've heard two different people say that this is the type of movie that M. Night Shamylan has been trying to make and failed many times. I agree. The special effects were spectacular, specifically because you don't notice them as being special effects. Since I work with video and graphic effects (albeit on a much different scale) I generally have no choice but to think about how'd they do that? But most of my time watching this movie I was too caught up with what was going on to notice that it couldn't have been real. There was such an interesting attention paid to details, without attention called to details that I haven't seen in many movies lately. When the captain stitches up his own sliced cheek and then takes a shot of whiskey to clean the wound, the gauze swells with blood and liquor. This was just one interesting detail that pulls you into the realism of the telling of the story. But there wasn't a close up shot to show off the bandaged face. It just happens as any other action in the shot.

The Good Shepard

This was an interesting story about the beginnings of the CIA. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as interesting as I hoped from the trailer.

Gosford Park

I did like this movie ultimately. But it seemed excruciating in the beginning. It's deliberately slow paced to replicate a weekend spend in a British country mansion. I suppose not much would really happen. The exploration of wealth and servant society was very interesting. Things do pay off in the end, although I think the story could have done more to demonstrate the loathsome qualities of Mr. McCordle (the eventual murder victim). Except for a few words here or there, I didn't get the impression that he was anymore disliked than any of the other rich folk. But when he was killed quite a lot of the characters seemed relieved that he was dead.

Constantine

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. It's funny that this review would stand back-to-back with my previous one. The most laughable aspect of the film (other than the cross shaped shotgun) was that the anti-christ was personified by an illegal mexican immigrant. The intended audience was clearly video gamers raised catholic. No one else could possibly be interested.

Inside Man

I'm amazed that I didn't hear more about this movie when it came out. I remember seeing a trailer or two. This movie was fantastic. This was a great take on the standard themed heist movie. So well thought out, and just the right amount of information was divulged at precise moments. I've always thought that Spike Lee was an interesting director, but now I think he's a genius. And plenty of credit needs to go to the screen-writer as well. As soon as I finish writing this I'm going to look up his name and put all of his movies, and Spikes, at the top of my Netflix que.

The Full Monty

I'm certain that the makers of this movie came up with the title first, and tried desperately to create a story that would lead up to that moment. With that said. I liked it, or at least the beginning. This might be in part due to the British slum setting and the accents. I really liked the characters. A deadbeat Dad, a fat man, a suicidal man, and a man that lies to his wife about the fact that he (and the rest of them) are laid off. They are a motley crew, but somehow I could empathize with them, and could almost see myself hanging out with them.

Much of what follows is implausible, but sometimes interesting. It held my interest until the final act. It suddenly became a little stupid and on the nose. They all decide to drop the strip-act, but end up making one performance due to popular demand. At the last minute Gaz, the ringleader, chickens out but his son convinces him not to give up now. They perform a dance number. The camera freezes and fades melodramatically just as they finish.

It sort of seemed like a long joke requiring too much build up before the punch-line, which you knew from the start anyway. I did like the characters though.

Nicholas Nickleby

The movie seemed a little rushed. I've never read the book, or and Dickens for that matter. I know that it's impossible to accurately depict a book on screen, and many movies that try to hard become cumbersome. Even so there were plenty of important seeming points that were skimmed over. When Nicholas proposes marriage to his love he explains that his father explained true love when he was young, and he'd made it his life goal to find the perfect girl, and he was so relieved that he'd finally found her. Although only a few scenes toward the end even touch on his quest for romance. Overall I thought the story was good, but it might have been better as a PBS series than a Hollywood movie.

DaVinci Code

I didn't actually order this from Netflix. It was sent by mistake, but I figured I'd watch it anyway. Afterall, I don't ever plan on reading the book.

The dialogue was terrible. It was as if the writer had taken a paragraph of dry exposition and his way of turning it into a two person dialogue, was simply to add an occasional, 'that's interesting,' or, 'what happened next?' It was barely better (or maybe only less Disney) than National Treasure (which was obviously an attempt to steal the thunder of the DaVinvi Code book before it was made into a movie).

I hope the book wasn't as silly as the movie. They reveal hidden 'facts' of to the last supper from DaVinci's painting as if it were a documentary snapshot. According to this story we're supposed accept that Mary Magdelene was Jesus' wife because one of the characters in DaVinci's (who obviously was not present at the actual supper) fresco looked rather feminine. I can certainly believe that the Catholic Church is full of conspiracies and deception, but this is not one of them.

Babel

This was a very complicated film, but very interesting. It demonstrates how even small decisions can have huge and even international consequences. The ending surprised me a bit in that it was small and not disastrous (at least for the two people in the final scene). The size of the consequence for a small childish action rose up like a tsunami, caused devastation in three countries and finally ended in a touching ripple.

To Catch a Thief

I need to go through the entire Hitchcock catalog. I won't say this the best of his films that I've seen, but he's definitely a master of telling a story in a way that is both poetic and commercial without diluting either. A good metaphor would be that he is a skilled designer in a field generally populated by fine artists who design.

Crimes and Misdemeanors

It was nice to see this after seeing Match Point. Woody took two very different methods to tell two very similar stories. I really enjoyed it. It's a very different take on a murder film.

A Band of Outsiders

I watched several movies over Christmas. I wish that I would have chronicled them, but it's too late now. I will move on to this week.

This is the first Godard film I've ever seen. I loved the characters. They seemed so cool. It's a story of a couple of young french guys who convince a pretty girl to help them steal her aunt's fortune. Unlike most heist films, there are no intensely dramatic scenes. Everything seems so casual and nonchalant, which makes me believe these guys would actually be capable of pulling this off.

I've seen aspects of this movie referenced in modern movies (the running through the Louvre scene in The Dreamers). It was nice to see what it was referencing