metrik7 Reviews

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

My passion is back

[9/10 · 10 July 2005]

Episodes III restored my passion for this series.

Like many others, the original trilogy was a watershed moment of my youth; all I can remember of a trip to Martha's Vineyard at age four was begging my parents to take me to see Star Wars again. I was excited when Episode I came out, becoming one of many to make attending the midnight premiere a priority. After seeing it a few more times, I finally realized that I was trying to convince myself that it was good. It wasn't. Ditto Attack of the Clones. When I found myself standing in line for tickets on the morning of the premiere of Episode III, I also found myself asking, "What the hell am I doing here?" The answer is simple: falling in love with Star Wars all over again. The first 20 minutes of this movie are on a par with any twenty minutes in the entire saga, with a space battle that makes the Pelennor Fields in Return of the King look like a back-alley brawl. The action sequences and lightsaber battles are second, visually, to nothing I have ever seen. While the dialogue (though much improved) was still clunky in spots, the actors have adapted to delivering it more believably. The story was fantastic. Lucas has done a great job of bringing the saga back to where it began...and has done an even better job of bringing back the fire within me as a fan.

One final note: Lucas also sent copies of Episode III to every major military base in Iraq, free of charge. This was not a PR move; I heard it from my brother-in-law, who is home on leave.

Deliverance (1972)

One of the few times that the movie is as good as the book

[10/10 · 25 February 2005]

James Dickey is a wonderfully descriptive author. When one reads "Deliverance", one is instantly transported into the lush backwoods of the Deep South. When one watches John Boorman's film version of the book, one realizes just how accurately he captures the essence of the book. The camera is as descriptive as the narration. The characters are fully realized, and the portrayals are fantastic. I first saw this movie in 1992, after my freshman year of college. I was in a phase where I was watching movies that were all released within a couple of years of my birth in 1973. Among them were "Patton", "Papillon", and "All the President's Men"; fine films, all of them. This one was easily the class of the group. That says a lot.

The Anderson Tapes (1971)

Shows its age, but worth a look!

[10 December 2004]

The Anderson Tapes was made in 1971 and feels like it was made in 1971. Unlike, say, Zardoz (another underrated Connery '70's classic), this doesn't mean that the cast all resemble slightly cleaner hippies. Instead, it is the level of technological innovation that is stuck two years before I was born. That said, this is a good movie. The performances are all fine, and while some situations are laughable, not all are. I will say this against it, though; Christopher Walken, as "The Kid", is supposedly a safecracking and lockpicking expert. What he actually does is blow stuff up. Some expert! My cousin Timmy likes to put firecrackers in tin cans and blow them up. Does that make him a safecracking and demolition expert?

Quincy Jones' score, which often pops up in all of the wrong places, is inadvertently hilarious (and also quite funky!).

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Calling it "bad" insults things that are actually bad.

[1/10 · 10 December 2004]

Sometimes sequels are made for the sake of making money (see "Rush Hour 2").

Sometimes sequels are made for the sake of continuing a worthy story (see "Lord of the Rings"). And sometimes, sequels are made for no discernible reason. Such is the case with "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace."

So much talent is wasted here. Jon Cryer. Mariel Hemingway. Sam Wanamaker. Even Jackie Cooper's Perry White is simply a caricature of a caricature. Margot Kidder's Lois Lane apparently had all of her brain cells removed by Superman's kiss at the end of Superman II. The movie is garbled.

The plot is unclear. The characters lack motivation. And I picked all of this up at age 13. I remember riding home from the theater, having seen Superman IV while my parents saw something else. And boy, did I wish I'd gone with them once the movie was over, and I told them so.

One last note: a lot of users have bashed the character of Nuclear Man. They were right to do so; he's an awful character with an awful haircut (Crowded House called: they want their bassist's hair back!). But even though the character was terrible, Mark Pillow's portrayal of him was somehow even worse. If you look up Mark Pillow on the IMDb, you'll notice that he has had a total of two other roles. That's two too many. Your average used-car salesman could have done a better job. And probably would have had better hair, too!

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978 TV Movie)

When you think Star Wars, you think "Harvey Korman!"

[22 April 2003]

This special was aired when I was five years old, and for years, considering that it made no memorable impact on my parents or older sister, I thought that I had dreamed the whole thing! Eighteen years later, I get a call from a friend of mine up in Boston, saying "You won't believe what I found in the comic book store up here!" He visited a week later, and we sat down to watch the Star Wars Holiday Special. Unless you are a fan of ironic retro kitsch, this show holds nothing for you. A Star Wars film with Art Carney? Harvey Goddamn Korman? Where are Jackie Gleason and Mel Brooks? The story is inane, Mark Hamill appears to be wearing about half a pound of eyeshadow (and that's per eye), and at the end, Princess Leia sings! She may have a decent voice, but she appears to have smoked a blunt before she started. Maybe she was sober during the other movies, and that's why she didn't sing. In general, this is a waste of time, watchable only for an excellent animated segment that introduced Boba Fett, and for seeing how the Ewok village from Return of the Jedi obviously was inspired by the Wookiee house on Kashyyyk.

The Killing (1956)

A Prototype for many movies and shows today

[3 April 2003]

Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" has been referred to as the movie in which he hit his stride, visually, as a director. I do not find this to be the case, as there are few to none of the long, languid shots, nor of the voyeuristic shots from an unmoving camera. There is more style in this movie than in many movies made both then and now; the difference is that this is not the "classic" Kubrick style.

That said, this is a movie that serves as a forerunner to Pulp Fiction and any movie that messes with timelines and shows multiple perspectives on the same action. Fans of the show Boomtown will appreciate the narrative style of "The Killing". Thanks to Tarantino, the non-sequential story line has been in vogue for the past decade or so (for more recent examples, see "Memento" or "Irreversible"); thanks to Kubrick and "The Killing", Tarantino had a template to use in pulling off this cinematic mini-revolution.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Vacation time for serious actors

[8/10 · 3 February 2003]

This movie was an absolute delight. It is lighthearted in tone (with a touch or two of darkness), breezily shot and acted, and painted in a kaleidoscope of '60s colors. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks get to retire their serious acting chops for a bit and seem to be truly enjoying their roles. The supporting cast is strong from top to bottom, especially Amy Adams as a clueless naif and a heartfelt turn by Christopher Walken as DiCaprio's father. Concerning the story, the tale of Frank Abignale, jr. (DiCaprio) is as much a yarn about mankind's willingness to trust someone who says all the right things as it is a commentary on how confidence opens doors which, for you, should rightly remain shut. Spielberg, who has been producing heavy, ominous fare for the last decade or so (Schindler's List, Amistad, and Minority Report, just to name a few), puts a sense of magic and enjoyment into his movies that calls to mind earlier work like E.T.

One final note: it's also amazing to note that what Frank Abignale did could never be duplicated--because of Frank Abignale himself. You'll have to see the movie or read the book to understand exactly what I mean.

Total Recall (1990)

Whether it's a dream or reality, it's Ah-nuld's best flick

[9/10 · 13 November 2002]

When Total Recall was released in 1990, I snuck in to see it lying in the trunk of my friend's Pontiac Phoenix. It was my 17th birthday, and for it I received a conundrum: was what I was seeing on the screen what was really happening to the character, or was it simply a manifestation of memory implants that he receives early in the film? Nobody can definitively answer that (and because my review is to be free of spoilers, I shall refrain from delineating my response). But regardless of whether or not the movie is supposed to be real or a dream, it's Schwarzenegger's best work. For one thing, we don't have to suspend disbelief enough to think "sure, the government would hire a 290-pound muscle-bound Austrian to do delicate undercover work" or "sure, he could be an investment banker". Schwarzie's a construction worker. And he can act in this film, which is better written (despite some cornball lines for the villains) than most of his other films. When he acts like an unstoppable hand-to-hand superman at the beginning of the movie, he is shocked and horrified at what he's done. Find me another Arnold movie in which he expresses remorse! The movie has action, suspense, and some themes that inspire discussion long after the movie is over. And although I don't normally care about such things, Rachel Ticotin and Sharon Stone pull off perhaps the best girl-vs-girl fist fight in movie history. I give it a 9, and I'd rate it not only as Schwarzenegger's finest work but also that of Paul Verhoeven.

Zardoz (1974)

The look is dated, but the message is not.

[9/10 · 13 November 2002]

Zardoz is a movie that probably failed to find a mass audience because of two reasons: 1)It was sci-fi in the pre-Star Wars days, and 2)It is intelligent sci-fi, which can be one of the most off-putting genres to the simple-minded (and I write this after having to explain most of "Minority Report" to a busload of rednecks with whom I watched it). Zardoz is among Connery's most cerebral work, and he does a fine job of it. The movie is philosophical and yet grounded at the same time, and contains echoes of our own mortality, our skewed principles, and an element of how easily man can be confused and forced to work for purposes other than his own.

That said, some people will not be able to get past the look of the film. The movie was released in 1974 and that period of time greatly informs its visual style. Most of the extras in the movie appear to have been hired at a casting call at a hippie commune. There is a New Age feel to the nexus where the immortals live, especially when the locals "meditate at second level". But there are memorable characters, memorable lines, and plenty of intellectual meat into which to sink your brain's fangs. Most sci-fi movies should be so well-rounded.

Memento (2000)

The end is but the beginning of something amazing

[10/10 · 4 March 2002]

I write this commentary in March 2002, long after the nominations for the Academy Awards for this year have been announced. My biggest feeling of disappointment was in the exclusion of Memento from just about every category save for writing and editing. I have read reviews of the nominations, and most of them said that Memento was excluded for being "gimmicky". The argument, they say, is that since the storyline runs backwards from the end to the beginning, it limits the creativity possible. Hogwash! So what if it's a gimmick. Why not reward them if the gimmick works? It does, here, to perfection.

The backwards-running storyline produces many moments of "aaaah, so THAT's how that happened!", feeding important pieces of the plot to the viewer in a patchwork style that keeps the viewer involved. This is not a movie for the easily distracted, as most "gimmicky" films are; this is one movie best viewed on DVD or VHS simply because there are many scenes so dense that you want to rewind them and watch them again. As the hero, Guy Pearce's performance fuels the entire story, expressing a full range of emotions and often juxtaposing opposite feelings from one scene to the next. The writing, directing, and editing are top-notch, intelligent, clever, humorous, and, when needed, brutal. Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano deliver excellent supporting performances, although this is becoming mere habit for Pantoliano.

Memento didn't find a mass audience because it is too intelligent for the average movie-goer. But if you don't object to actually investing a bit of yourself in the process of watching a movie, see Memento. It is far and away the best movie of 2001, and may be the best new movie I've seen in five years.

Red Rock West (1993)

Here's your definition of modern film noir

[9/10 · 7 February 2002]

In any number of films, you can find Nicholas Cage as a strong, silent hero, Dennis Hopper as a homicidal maniac, Lara Flynn Boyle as a vamp/tramp, and the late, lamented J.T. Walsh as the heavy. These are the types of roles these four can play in their sleep, and they have done so often enough that to see them playing them again borders on cliche. What a relief, therefore, that John Dahl, a master at getting a lot of mood out of a little action, directed this nuanced noirish thriller. Hopper manages to keep from going over the top, Cage shows a little more depth than his usually-superficial action heroes, Boyle is by turns sultry, innocent, and scheming, and one gets a sense of the hard iron of the soul that is central to his character, Wayne. Dahl's direction gives a sense of the emptiness of the Big Sky country where the story takes place while also being intimate enough to show how a wrinkled brow can indicate a radical change of plot in store. The plot twists are top-notch, and one of the other great twists in this movie is that some of the supporting characters actually act as if they have brains. It isn't often that minor characters like deputy sheriffs have more brains than their headlining superiors. But with a director as smart as Dahl, you shouldn't be surprised by the intelligence of anything connected with this film. An excellent movie.

Rushmore (1998)

Why won't this stupid EJECT button work?!?!

[2/10 · 25 January 2002]

In the fall of 1997, my friend Bob Salari and I rented a movie called "Bottle Rocket", directed by "Rushmore" director Wes Anderson. We had rented it because the "If you liked _________, you'll like "Bottle Rocket" on the Blockbuster box, and "Pulp Fiction" was in the blank. About forty or fifty minutes into the movie, still waiting for any action or laughs, we shut it off and ejected it. It was the first movie I had ever rented and not watched. "Rushmore", rented two years later on the strength of recommendations (and because I didn't know Anderson was responsible for "Bottle Rocket"), is the second. Many reviews I have read about this movie started with a comment to the effect of "Wes Anderson does it again!". Yes, he does. He makes me reach for the VCR remote again. Jason Schwartzmann was more grating than annoying (as were his classmates), and Bill Murray apparently got lost in the Comic Bermuda Triangle, from which no laughs can ever possibly escape. Several years down the line, when I feel like wasting money again, I'll rent "The Royal Tenenbaums" and see if Anderson can go for the three-peat. The only reason I am not giving this movie a 1 is the strength of its soundtrack.