Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[RStar]

Blood Diamond was better than I thought it would be. Perhaps it's the expectations that killed it in the box office. However, I am not comfortable with these movies that show these poor people suffering. I want to go to the movies to have a good time, not watch people suffer. I don't like slasher movies either.

Stranger than Fiction was another winner. I did enjoy that one.

I saw "Pan's Labrynith" tonight. I felt it was a good story, well done with special effects, and well acted. I didn't go into the theater knowing it was in Spanish with subtitles, but I delt with it. It was an on-the-edge-of-your-seat action movie, but also was pretty violent with a bit of gore. It takes place during a war (1940s Spain) and they had to make sure everyone was dead by killing them 2 or 3 times. It's R rated, and though a fantasy, it's not for the kids.

[€uroMeinke]

We saw Perfume last night. Having read and enjoyed the book some 20 years ago, I was curious to see how faithful it would be rendered in film. A book about scent is one thing, but in the visual medium of film? Honestly, I enjoyed the film a lot, but at least at the outset it relied heavily (perhaps too much so) on voice over to tell you what was going on. That said I think Ben Whishaw did a remarkable job playing the amoral genius Grenouille and his quest for the ultimate scent.

[innerSpaceman]

I know I'll be in the minority for this one, but I found Dreamgirls to be just about the most boring musical I've ever seen. Standard rags to stardom story ... and not a memorable song to be found. Which, seeing as it's the thinly-disguised story of a real singing group that had about 30 hit, memorable songs, I find unforgiveably ironic.

[Gemini Cricket]

I liked "Dreamgirls". I couldn't take my eyes off of Jennifer Hudson. She was fun to watch.

As far as memorable songs go, if you don't remember "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" then you have ice water in your brains.


No, it wasn't perfect and it dragged in places but I liked it.

Beyonce's gorgeous. Eddie Murphy was funny. The music was great. The sound was good. The first ten minutes really grabs hold of you...

[innerSpaceman]

Was that song written for the film, or was it also in the original show?



(I didn't much like the show either, but I'm curious if I heard that song way back when.)

[Gemini Cricket]

It's on the original 1982 Broadway Cast Recording.
I haven't seen the stage production, but I'd love to now.

[innerSpaceman]

Hollywoodland was meh. The flashback mystery involving George Reeves' death was fascinating, but the foreground detective story about Adrien Brody was lackluster.

But having just watched the Superman Returns bonus features, I found the stuff about the Reeves murder/suicide mystery to be fascinating. At one point in those extras, director Bryan Singer asks actor Brandon Routh if he's worried by the so-called "Superman Curse." Routh says that, even if disaster should befall him, he will at least have gotten to be Superman on film.

I'll be following Brandon's life with interest. If tragedy strikes, I will be a true believer in the Superman Curse, and will conclude that George Reeves was murdered. The movie Hollywoodland ultimately leaves the question open, but it was fun to learn the details of the mystery.

In other words, a good film for Superman fans; all others should avoid.





.

[Gemini Cricket]

I wonder if that kid from "Smallville" will be part of the curse as well.

I was looking forward to "Hollywoodland" until the reviews slammed it. I may Netflix it someday when I reactivate my account...

[innerSpaceman]

I found Bobby to be a mildly insulting mess. If they wanted to do a story about a day-in-the-life of a hotel, I don't know why they had to choose The Ambassador on the day of Bobby Kennedy's assassination. Aside from montages at the beginning and end of the film, nothing in the movie had anything to do with the senator or his killing.

It's true that among the characters were two senior campaign workers, who never mentioned anything about the themes of the Kennedy campaign ... and a couple getting married for the purpose of the groom avoiding military service in Vietnam. Oh, and there were two junior campaign volunteers who spent the day in a hotel room on their first acid trip. But none of the other dozen or so characters had even these tenuous ties to "Bobby."

I guess it's alright to do a take on Grand Hotel (which was hammer-handedly referenced by having Anthony Hopkins' character talk about the movie "Grand Hotel" at the start of the film) ... but why on earth pick the occassion of the 2nd Kennedy assassination as the setting for a hotel movie that had absolutely nothing to do with Bobby Kennedy?

The tragic ending for the Vietnam-avoidance couple on their wedding day might have illuminated a cornerstone of Kennedy's policy proposals, but that's where the connection started and ended. Nothing else in the film, involving a plethora of guests and employees in soap-opera stories, had anything remotely to do with the titular personage. And the montages about Bobby Kennedy and the hope of a nation that bookended the film were disconnected from anything actually IN the film.



Bah for "Bahby."

[mousepod]

Having been so moved by Pan's Labyrinth, I finally watched The Spirit of the Beehive tonight. While there are elements that clearly influenced del Toro, this film is an entirely different, but no less haunting, monster. Slow and languorous, but beautiful and dreamy, The Spirit of the Beehive tells the story of a little girl in post-war Spain.

If anyone here has seen this movie, I'd love to talk about it. I'm not going to bother with spoilers - I went into it blind, so I'll just give it an enigmatic "thumbs-up", though I should warn iSm that it's in Spanish with subtitles. Also, it's an early-1970s "arthouse" flick, so don't expect a wham-bam narrative line that is de rigueur nowadays.