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Reviews
River Queen (2005)
Watch it on "mute"
With an interesting premise (in the conflicts between Europeans and indigenous peoples sometimes the battle lines were not so clear), this should have been a good film. But the story is sabotaged by the director's overriding infatuation with his own cleverness twinned with a very poor script.
Yes, the natural setting is beautiful and, yes, the movie is authentic to its 19th century historical setting. But the filmmaker keeps gilding the lily over and over again, adding layer upon layer of over-the-top musical accompaniment, not to mention a completely unnecessary voice-over, to the soundtrack, that ultimately overwhelm the viewer and, by calling attention to themselves, take away from the story.
To me, it was clear the director, with his microscopic closeups and the endless recurrence of the musical motif of "Danny Boy" (of all things!) was trying to make a New Zealand version of an epic Sergio Leone film, something on the order of Once Upon A Time In The West. But given the earnestness of the story (most of Leone's westerns were tongue-in-cheek), not to mention that it's no longer 1968, he succeeds in making a parody of one.
Too bad.
Watching the Detectives (2007)
Good premise, weak film
Basically this is a pale shadow of High Fidelity, which was a witty and wonderfully acted film with several truly winning character turns. Watching the Detectives has none of that.
The premise of a video store geek swept off his feet by a quirky mystery woman is a good one but is never fully or adequately explored, thanks to a very weak script and the miscasting of the leads, not to mention the lack of any real visual story-telling style. I mean, this film is centered around MOVIES, yet is itself incredibly uncinematic! That's a major failing right there.
But the main problem is we simply don't care about the main characters because the script and the actors (Murphy and Liu) fail to make them true or sympathetic in any real way. So the film just becomes a series of episodes involving two people who seem, well, not terribly interesting.
Oh, yeah, another thing: For a romantic comedy? It's not funny. And the romance isn't terribly romantic, either.
So avoid it. Even at its 90-something minute running time it's just not worth sitting through...
Revolver (2005)
A mess, but a good-looking mess.
If you value style over content, see this movie. If you value psycho-babble over coherent story-telling, see this movie. If you think Madonna is the sh*t, see this movie.
Otherwise, stay away.
Ritchie, using the familiar hook of the gritty crime flick to bring in his Lock, Stock and Snatch audience, proceeds to spend 104 minutes of your valuable time wanking off.
The film, a fantasy set in an alternative universe that is a cross between New Jersey and Blackpool, gets off to a rousing start, then quickly devolves into the world's longest MTV video with gag-inducing philosophical pretensions.
I won't bore you with its professed philosophy, but suffice it to say that it is so obtuse the director had to resort to running interview clips with various PHDs over the closing credits to explain it. No, I'm not kidding.
The movie's one redeeming feature is the stylized violence that erupts all too infrequently, given that it is a blessed relief from the endless explorations of the main character's internal "thoughts." Too bad those scenes aren't in another movie.
Give this one a pass, friend.
Donnie Darko (2001)
A worthy cult film that appeals on many levels
I had had this film recommended to me by friends and knew it was considered a cult favorite, but have only just got around to viewing it, thanks to its turning up in a bargain bin at the local discount store.
Though I went in with some preconceptions, not knowing much about the film except its basic premise, I was delightfully surprised by what I saw. Not many films now can take you on a voyage that is so free of clichés, formulas and predictable plot turns, but Donnie Darko does just that.
Despite its faults (and it does have them, including phoned-in performances - thankfully brief - from Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze and the absolutely dreadful Mary McDonnell), this is a whimsical little film full of surprises and twists. It builds suspense with nearly every scene and there's hardly a moment when you're not aching to find out what happens next, and what exactly is to become of Donnie.
This is also one of the few films I have ever seen to deal so effectively with mental illness, drawing the viewer so completely into the world of a paranoid schizophrenic (much as Scorsese so hypnotically drew you in in his bleak masterpiece Taxi Driver) without resorting to being patronizing, sensationalist, exploitative or simple minded.
See this film if you enjoy the kind of movies that explore other versions of reality, whether they be fantasy, horror, science fiction or something else. I think you'll find it engaging, entertaining, enlightening and more. And, like me, you'll probably want to see it again right away...
A History of Violence (2005)
Unfortunately, more proof Cronenberg is over-rated.
Let me start by saying I am not a David Cronenberg fan. Based on what I had seen prior to this, I had found his films wholly unengaging, with little or no emotional or intellectual depth. His direction is habitually pedestrian, touched by stylized visuals that do nothing other than call attention to themselves.
That said, I finally figured I had to see this film, albeit three years too late, spurred on by the comments of people whose opinions I generally respect.
Sorry to say, though, that A History of Violence only confirmed my long-held view of Cronenberg: That he is a cold film maker with little or no understanding of human emotions and how to portray them cinematically.
This film is flat, unengaging, clichéd and inept. The characters are uninteresting (even the villains), the dialog trite, the acting uninspired and the direction even more so. This sort of story has been done much better by many others before. See Night of the Hunter or either version of Cape Fear if you want to see a good film in the same vein.
But stay away from this one.