Recently Seen Movies 3: So Very Tired
- 1. [trying to remember this one]
- 2. CHARLIE'S ANGELS
- 3. WONDER BOYS
- 4. PEARL HARBOR
- 5. THE OTHERS
- 6. LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
- 7. SPY GAME
- 8. ALONG CAME A SPIDER
- 9. THE PLEDGE
- 10. THE TAILOR OF PANAMA
- 11. THE CRIMSON RIVERS
- 12. MEMENTO
- 13. ALMOST FAMOUS
- 14. BLACK HAWK DOWN
- 15. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
1. ???
2. CHARLIE'S ANGELS. I caught the video because this one has two actors in it who can always hold my attention (though for quite different reasons): Bill Murray and Drew Barrymore. Sad to say, Murray was wasted (and looked wasted). I want to forget he was in this. Drewby didn't disappoint, though. That scene in the race car was hot! Funniest scene in the movie was Cameron Diaz doin' the hustle in the nightclub. The action scenes are absurd but entertaining. Overall, it made me smile, but BM was never in this, hear?
3. WONDER BOYS. You wouldn't think a movie about an aging writer, his talented student, and his desperate editor, could be very entertaining...would you? But Michael Douglas (the writer) and Robert Downey Jr (the editor) had the supporting cast, script, and director they needed to make this unconventional college comedy work very well. And I gave it the inaugural Bertie Award for the Most Imaginative Use of a Dead Dog.
4. PEARL HARBOR. Not as bad as I'd been led to expect. The middle third, the Japanese attack, is quite spectacular, if a tad over-sfxed (I saw this at the cinema). And the eternal triangle of the first and third parts is well done, even moving at last - a much better romantic sub-plot than the one in Bruckheimer/Bay's ARMAGEDDON. And I even learned a little history from it - I'd never heard of the Doolittle Raid before seeing this.
5. THE OTHERS. Very much in the tradition of The Sixth Sense, and, I think, just as good or maybe better. Script and edit are both very focused; there are surprisingly few redundant scenes. Some very good fright scenes, if you can be frightened by this sort of thing. No complaints about the acting, and it was interesting to see Eric Sykes (an aging British comedian) playing a dramatic role. I don't subscribe to the supernatural, but the movie held my attention and I was impressed by the cleverness of the plot. Recommended.
6.LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Do not wait for the video or dvd, see this at the cinema. Truly spectacular, and true to Tolkien (well, not perfectly, but, hell, it's only a movie). But what a movie: excellent in characterization, scenery, special effects, action, pacing, and visual detail. The book is
a towering landmark in fantasy literature, and this series of movies looks set to become its equal in fantasy cinema.
7. SPY GAME On his retirement day, a C.I.A. veteran scams the system into rescuing from a Chinese jail a young agent The Shop was going to sacrifice to political expediency. Clever script also takes us through spy recruitment and training plus several well staged 'ops'. Another excellent feature is the wonderfully convincing location work. Well worth seeing.
8. ALONG CAME A SPIDER The very clever plot is the star of this movie. And the great Morgan Freeman, of course. Two-thirds of the way through there's a major plot-twist. Too often such twists are absurd and unacceptable, but this one is entirely credible. An engrossing film, directed with impressive verve. Recommended.
9. THE PLEDGE So the plot doesn't pan out the way we are inclined to hope (please note I said 'hope', not 'expect'). Okay, I can handle that. But why advertise the outcome in the opening credits sequence? That's right, folks: this movie opens with its own spoiler. Would anyone care to enlighten me on Sean Penn's (the director's) thinking on this?
10. THE TAILOR OF PANAMA Geoffrey Rush makes the most of a witty script which is unashamedly incorrect politically. Pierce Brosnan is merely adequate as a proper bastard of a British secret agent (with nary a nod in the direction of Bond). Jamie Lee Curtis shows signs of blowsy, busty middle age, and, in a memorable scene, connects Brosnan with a face-numbing slap after he cops a feel of her superstructure. The script is mercilessly satirical towards those in power.
11. THE CRIMSON RIVERS This French film has two things going for it: the ultra-cool Jean Reno plays one of the two main roles, and the setting: a university town in the scenic French Alps. The plot is a bit of a mess. Reno is one of two cops who are independently investigating a series of particularly gruesome and cruel murders. There are some clinically depicted horrors, a martial arts scene, and a very snowy climax. The DVD is dubbed into English, and, oddly, also gives you English subtitles whether you want them or not. Amusingly, the dubbed script and the subtitles were obviously produced by two different translators and are often highly variant - a revelation for those who may naively assume translators labor to achieve accuracy.
12. MEMENTO [I was tempted to say I found the title of this movie tattooed on my arm but couldn't remember having seen it. Jim would probably have banished me, and deservedly so.] This is very much a movie that depends for interest on its plot idea. Well, okay, it has Guy Pierce and that foxy chick from The Matrix, but otherwise it reminded me of a filmed play - interesting idea and dialog, but cinematically dull. However, the idea is a very intriguing one, and the way the story is told is also novel: it starts at the end and ends at the beginning. Each scene is a sequel to the scene after it rather than the one before it. For most of us, me included, this one demands to be seen twice for full comprehension. I've seen it once. [I hadn't intended to comment until then, Jim.]
13. ALMOST FAMOUS Immortal Line 1: "Rock stars have kidnapped my son!" Immortal Line 2: "She's with me." This is the most charming rock 'n roll movie I've seen in ages. I loved it. The cherubic face of 'William Miller' - wonderful casting. The World According to Garp meets This Is Spinal Tap.
14. BLACK HAWK DOWN This could have been a really great movie. Technically it is awesome - there are only a couple of momentary fx shots that don't quite work. And the look of the film is amazingly gritty and real. There are several very effective and harrowing scenes. Where it falls down is where so many films fall down these days: action that just isn't credible. And I think I can guess where the fault lies. Not with Ridley Scott but with his co-producer Jerry Bruckheimer - he of Armageddon, that model of convincing action scenes. By all means see this movie, and see what damage is being done to cinema by the current inability to do convincing action.
15. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Despite what certain critics may have said, this will eventually take its place among the greatest science fiction movies ever made. I feel sure Stanley Kubrick would not have been unhappy with what Steven Spielberg has done with the project he started. This is a serious, thoughtful, and visually beautiful film. It expands greatly on the short story on which it is based, "Super-toys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss, which I re-read immediately after watching. I don't know how Aldiss feels about it, but I have no problem with any aspect of the expansion. Indeed, I have no problem with any aspect of the movie, artistic and technical.
Haven't seen Pearl Harbour although I expect I will. I always enjoyed Tora, Tora, Tora because it played the surprise attack from the Japanese perspective.
Never saw "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo"? A Spencer Tracy/ Van johnson classic made during the war years (1944).
Sk, wonderful to hear from you again! I begin to see that it's a matter of attracting your attention with the right material :-)
If I ever saw THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO it would have been many years ago on the box, but you can bet I'll give it a look if it gets programmed (unlikely where I am) or if I see it at the video shop.
I have seen TTT, and, yes, it was very interesting to have that persective, rather like the German perspective in DAS BOOT.
Btw, you still owe us a list of SF short stories :-) - unless you've posted it since last time I looked.
Some equipment failure on the home machine has severely curtailed my Listology contributions. I still check out the lists as I get time at the office. Still trying on the sci-fi ss list.
Bertie, the phrase "So Very Tired" would lead me to believe that you didn't like these films. Yet in reading your comments it seems quite the opposite. What gives?
Yeah, I probably should change it. I was trying to be witty. The phrase is borrowed from a Simpsons episode in which they use it as the subtitle of a Star Trek movie starring the original and rapidly aging cast: STAR TREK 12: SO VERY TIRED. "It's no use Captain, I canna reach the controls," says an obese Scotty in reply to an order from grey-haired Kirk.
It's nice to see you affirm my opinion of Along Came a Spider. I saw it in-flight, and I never really trust my reviews under such conditions. Either the viewing conditions are miserable, detracting from my enjoyment, or I'm so eager for diversion that my enjoyment is augmented.
I saw it under ideal (for me) conditions: at home, on my dvd setup, at an altitude of a couple of feet, snacks handy.
I forgot to put in my mini-review that I thought Michael Moriarty was pretty much wasted as the Senator: he's worthy of much better roles.
I visited specifically to see what you and/or jim thought of LOR. I agree it is to be seen on the big screen. What impressed me most about the film is that it finally gives me another's perspective on the good professor's world. It didn't always agree with what I imagined, but it served to breathe cinematic life to a long cherished idea. The Mines of Moria scene was fantastic. I thought the film was strong enough to satisfy the Tolkienites along with the general public. Bring on the TWO TOWERS.
sk! Nice to see you! I think it was just two days ago when I last wondered where you'd gone off to. I keep meaning to create a "Shane! Come back Shane!" list of the MIA Listologists I miss. :-)
LotR was terrific. I agree completely that it perfectly balanced catering to the hard-core fans with being accessible to casual fans or folks that haven't read the books (perish the thought). I was sure it would sway too far in one direction (probably the latter) and couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised.
I'm excited about the prospects for The Two Towers and Return of the King. Hopefully shooting them all together kept the cast in the zone, so as long as Jackson doesn't lose his post-production touch, the next two should live up to Fellowship.
Hey, you're not Stephen King, are you, sk? Your disappearances aren't to write a novel/movie, count your money, or recover from a near-roadkill experience, are they?
Hmmm...TwoTowers....Towers!?!? Well, probably not.
One missing character I missed and who should, if I remember right, have been in the first log of the trilogy, was Tom Bombadil. Perhaps they couldn't cast him.
I agree. I missed Tom Bombadil too. I suspect, however, that he was left out due to time restraints. As well, as delightful a character as he is, he is not exactly essential to the main story line. I felt that the entire story up until they got to Elrond's city was compacted a fair bit. I remember the first time I read the whole thing I kept wondering when they were going to get to the actual journey to Mordor. I think you're right, though. If Tom had been left in he would have been very difficult to cast.
I always felt Tolkien included Bombadil in The Fellowship as a way to develop the character of Bombadil himself. The "Adventures of Tom Bombadil" was written in 1934. Before the Fellowship was even begun. His position in Tolkien's world has created more questions than answers for me. Who or what was he? why did the ring have no power over him? He was known to Elrond and Gandalf yet neither thought he could (or would) keep the ring safe. His inclusion in the movie could not have been tied in at a later date. Of course J.R.R. may have seen him as a handy way to allow the hobbitts to escape the Shire. Bertie's idea of casting intrigues me. I'll have to consider that. Maybe some other Listers have suggestions.
I've just read part of an essay on question of TB's place in the book. The author claims that Tolkien intended the seemingly out-of-place TB to represent a position of indifference to the surrounding struggle of good versus evil. He considered this attitude of indifference to be a morally important alternative. If you subscribe to the theory that the book holds up a mirror to the real life war against Fascism, TB might be seen as representing a non-activist pacifism.
True enough! but the kindly Professor claims his works were histories built to support his invented langauge. In all of his commentaries Tolkien scoffed at the idea of his work being allegoric. I think I recall his major issue with those claims was that he would not have portrayed the West (the Americas) as the "promised land". Either way TB is a bit out of line with the rest of the story. Maybe he was trying to tie in an old and favorite creation into his newer work. What say you regarding casting ideas?
Having recently watched Moulin Rouge he's fresh in my mind, so I'll throw him out there . . . How 'bout Jim Broadbent?
JB has also played Winston Churchill - so much for his pacifist credentials! :-D
If Orson Welles was still around...
Have you seen Robbie Coltrain in Harry Potter?
I beg his pardon. It's Robbie Coltrane - he played Hagrid.
I have, and I agree that he'd be a good choice. I remember the book describing TB as a large man with lots of laugh-lines. I also considered Brian Blessed and somewhat anomolously, Oliver Platt. Any other nominees?
Perhaps I missed something in the story, but I always pictures Tom being very lanky. All of the actors mentioned here are fairly large. I find this a little disconcerting....have I been picturing him wrong????
"Frodo and Sam stood as if enchanted. The wind puffed out. The leaves hung silently again on stiff branches. There was another burst of song, and then suddenly, hopping and dancing along the path, there appeared above the reeds an old battered hat with a tall crown and a long blue feather stuck in the band. With another hop and a bound there came into view a man, or so it seemed. At any rate he was too large and heavy for a hobbit, if not quite tall enough for one of the Big People, though he made noise enough for one, stumping along with great yellow boots on his thick legs, and charging through grass and rushes like a cow going down to drink. He had a blue coat and a long brown beard; his eyes were blue and bright, and his face was red as a ripe apple, but creased into a hundred wrinkles of laughter. In his hands he carried on a large leaf as on a tray a small pile of white water-lilies."
Thanks for doing my research for me, Jim! Indisputable evidence, for sure. I guess it was all the dancing and hopping that called to mind a very comical image of a very lean and rubbery man - a kind of maniacal, whimsical version of that skinny announcer dude at the "Restaurant at the End of the Universe". Actually, re-reading this description hasn't much changed my view of him - he just seems a bit bigger. And it seems to be comparing his size to Hobbits, so saying that he's big still doesn't call to mind an overly large man, in my mind. But clearly "lanky" was not very close to the mark.
I don't think size matters... Well, not such cases as these. They clearly used various sorts cinematic trickery in the movie to make some characters look larger or smaller than others.
Happy to help! So who's your nominee, lanky or otherwise?
I've been having a great deal of trouble with this one. I think in terms of weight I like someone like Michael Badalucco (George Nelson from O Brother, Where Art Thou?). He's also has a kind of manic cheerfulness in that film that I think might work. But his obvious disadvantages are that he has no wrinkles and never comes across as being particularly wise or enigmatic. And I just don't think he's quite right. I'll keep thinking on this one.
I always saw TB as a somewhat short bowlegged type. Michael Palin perhaps?
Well, that's it. The Tolkien family will be serving you papers in no time...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Have you been following this Tailor of Panama discussion?
No. But I just caught up with it.
I stand by my opinion that Brosnan was merely adequate in his role. The script is very allusive, including several to 007, but Brosnan's performance is pointedly unBondian. Bond is never presented as a bastard, and LeCarre is saying, through Brosnan's character, hey, these bastards are bastards.
Yes, the movie is more satirical than anything else, so I'm not inclined to quibble about the irreal way the attack is called on and called off.
There is much to enjoy in TTOP, but you're left with the impression that it doesn't work as well as it might have, despite Rush's presence.
The Crimson Rivers is on my to see list, mostly because of Jean Reno, although the preview made it look decent as well. I actually read a review recently that opined that Hollywood is ruining Jean Reno. It certainly feels like he's been on a downhill slide after an auspicious beginning on this side of the Atlantic.
Do I understand your review correctly that watching the movie in French with English subtitles is not an option?
Jim, I wouldn't rule out that option. I just lazily pressed play, and got a dubbed English soundtrack plus English subtitles which I'm sure I didn't choose from the menu. The differences between spoken and written often made me smile at inappropriate moments.
If Reno's cool can survive GODZILLA it can survive anything.
Who said he survived it? He hasn't made one decent movie since then. Even Crimson Rivers was just so-so.
Bertie, to your comments about The Pledge, I sort of understand your point about the beginning scene. It really does not serve a great purpose but I did not find it distracting or really that much of a spoiler. There could be lots of reason why Jack is wandering drunk in the desert but how he gets there is surprising and I thought pretty well done.
Neither at the beginning nor at the end did I take it that he was drunk; it seemed pretty clear that he was suffering a mental breakdown. The movie would have been much better off without the 'before' sequence. It says to me that Penn chickened out on his downer ending and decided to try to soften the blow.
I agree he was suffering a mental brakdown but he was also most definitely drinking. I believe we see him with a pint bottle of booze.
I dont see how he chickened out, the ending is still the ending no matter if it is foreshadowed or not.
I thought for sure there'd be Memento comments up. I hate waiting. :-)
You're so good to me. You really could have waited for a second viewing though (AAA found that it didn't hold up for him as well on the second go-round). But hey, as long as I'm badgering you, I don't think Carrie-Anne Moss was in Pitch Black (she was in The Matrix and the lamentable Red Planet though).
One last thing . . . if I were you, I'd have no shot of remembering what movie #1 was by now. I'll be most impressed if you pull that out of the mental archives.
Ah, I knew I'd seen her in a sf movie. Thanks for the correction.
About #1, it wasn't a gimmick, I did have a movie in mind, but it is indeed lost now in the mists of time. In case you've wondered, I don't list every movie I see here - most, but not all.
Ah, nice to see a positive review for A.I. from a trusted source. AAA (another trusted source) had somewhat blunted my desire to see it.