Films I Watched - February, 2007
Submitted by lbangs on Mon, 02/05/2007 - 05:53
Tags:
- 2/4 - An Inconvenient Truth - We have two films here. One is an excellent documentary that is wise enough to get out of Al Gore’s way and to simply shoot his slideshow on global warning. The other is a clunky series of Gore-narrated thoughts accompanied by shots of pure propaganda, showing our narrator larger than life, concerned, thoughtful, and, most importantly, presidential. Not only is this film weak, it is interwoven into the better film in an extremely clumsy matter. The first film is not perfect - even here, some logical fallacies and misleading statistics are paraded about - but the second film is horrible. Global warning is a reality, and one which deserves the publicity this film gives it. It is just a shame all involved could not just leave this film at that. (And for the record, if the man ran, I would most likely vote for him, so this is not the ranting of a cranky conservative. It is the criticism of an unbiased film lover.) The first film, the one that begs the viewer to pay attention to the scientific nightmare, is quite good; the second is most definitely not. The fact that this is largely seen as the frontrunner for the Oscars while more-deserving documentaries such as This Film Is Not Yet Rated and Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple are not even nominated is yet another sign that when it comes to shortlisting nonfiction films, something in the Academy is definitely broke. ** 1/2
- 2/3 - Flags of Our Fathers - It is becoming trendy to knock the films directed by Clint Eastwood, but I’m not a trendy guy. Yes, his is a classic style, but also somewhat novel in applying lessons learned from westerns and crime capers to moody, character-oriented meditations. Mystic River is one of the best films of the decade, and while I think our man Harry won his Oscar more for that film than for the official cause, Million Dollar Baby was still a good film. This is the first half of his study on the battle of Iwo Jima, an examination which spreads a wide net over the motives and scars of the men who fought on both sides of the conflict. This tanked at the box office - I suspect Americans get more tired of war movies and dig some nice head-sized holes in the sand when it gets involved in bloody messes - but despite a weak opening and a few war scenes that are oddly drained of emotion or terror, the narrative carries its weaknesses more as slight scabs than Achilles’ heels. This, after all, is about the men more than the battle, and Clint does an excellent job of showing the soldiers as real people. They weren’t heroes, they weren’t fools, and they weren’t gung-ho assholes. They were kids caught up in situations they couldn’t begin to understand and horrors no one should have to endure. The survivors pictured in the famous photo of the flag raising on the island are carted off onto a huckster tour shuffling the soft shoes for war bonds. More than most modern movies that try to strip horrific battles bare of illusions and myths, this film does a radical feat in the midst of war. It tells the truth. *** 1/2
Author Comments:
All ratings are on a four-star system.
You really think we're getting tired of war films? God I hope so.
It runs in cycles, but yeah, I suspect we're nearing a low, at least in terms of realistic war films.
Heart-tugging, patriotic, bloodless, flag-raising films, however, might still drum up interest...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs