Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Alex]

I'm interested in Lars but am put off a bit by the fact that several of the critics I tend to skew with all have issues with it. And I must admit that when I watch the trailer I get a very strong whiff of Kapra which generally isn't a good thing.

On the other hand, an article in today's Chronicle referenced Harvey which is a very good point in its favor.

So, I'll wait and see it and find out. But you can say of any movie "it is good if you just go along with it." Any nonsense or setup can fly, in my opinion, but the responsibility isn't necessarily on me to just relax and open myself up to it but on the film to make me want to.

In other movie reviews, Michael Clayton is very solid. Not great and a little too long. But it really brings home two emerging truths:

1. George Clooney, somehow, has become the person that simply doesn't make bad movies. They're not all great, but it has been a long time since he was in an outright bad one. The only other name of someone similar (who works regularly unlike say Daniel Day-Lewis who works every few years) is Russell Crow.

2. Not since Cary Grant has god put on this earth a man so perfectly designed for wearing suits on the big screen.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Alex

But you can say of any movie "it is good if you just go along with it." Any nonsense or setup can fly, in my opinion, but the responsibility isn't necessarily on me to just relax and open myself up to it but on the film to make me want to.

While I am in nearly full agreement with LSPE's review (not surprisingly, as I am quoted in it), I would change one statement. I didn't think that the film required you to open up to it. I thought the film did everything one could ask to bring the viewer in, and in my view was spectacularly successful. I would account bad reviews not to failing to open oneself up to the movie, but to deliberately closing oneself off from it. The pans I read, after seeing the film, seemed very offended that the film isn't darker and meaner than it is.