Prisoner of Paradise

Sometimes I wonder why I’m so fascinated with the Holocaust… but then I wonder how people could NOT be fascinated with it.  I confess I haven’t actually read a lot about it, but I’ve seen a lot of movies about it now and it never ceases to astonish me.

This is a very good film, though not exactly ground-breaking.  Things are kept interesting through the usual balanced mixture of interviews, stock footage, stills, current locations, and recreations.  Ian Holm does a fine job with the narration, too.  I wasn’t familiar with Theresienstadt before, so that was enlightening.  Did Gerron do a bad thing?  It’s hard to judge.  Perhaps the line between being unheroic and being a traitor is sometimes too thin.  Rating: 8 

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The Big Red One

Some elements are a little silly (the rival German officer, the lonely Nazi doctor, the insane asylum) but otherwise a good war movie, utilizing the same “vignettes” narrative style as Saving Private Ryan, among others.  Seeing Mark Hamill makes me want to watch Star Wars.  Rating: 7

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The Roaring Twenties

I was hoping for more Bogart.  I still don’t like Cagney that much, but he’s better in this film than in White Heat.  I really don’t have any strong opinions about the movie one way or another… I didn’t love it, but nothing about it annoyed me or bored me.  Rating: 7

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Schizopolis

Another one that’s clever and tough to explain, but considerably more enjoyable than Loch Ness.  Soderbergh really lets loose here, and the result is a very fun experiment, even if it is plainly self-indulgent.  Surrealism of the comic Buñuel variety.  Rating: 8

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Incident at Loch Ness

A very clever idea (and a difficult one to explain) that unfortunately fails.  First of all, none of these people are actors, and it shows.  Doing a mockumentary like this requires a delicate balance of comedy and authenticity — no one involved is capable of pulling off either one.  Second, it’s just not written well.  Zak Penn is not good at writing comedy, and if you need further proof check out another movie he wrote, PCU… one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.  

Still, it was watchable (though extremely predictable) and I have to give points for effort.  Rating: 6

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I Know Where I’m Going!

A story as familiar as any, told a thousand times from It Happened One Night to Titanic.  Conventional plot aside, not a bad little movie.  Very nicely photographed, and I enjoyed the Scottish culture (as opposed to Irish culture, which annoys me for some reason).  Rating: 7

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The Most Dangerous Game

Dreadful acting from everyone except Joel McCrea, and some horribly outdated sexual politics (Fay Wray’s character, utterly useless for anything but screaming, becomes the prize).  Despite these flaws, an exciting movie that moves at a breakneck pace.  Barely a second is wasted.  Rating: 6

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Le Sang des Bêtes (Blood of the Beasts)

After marathoning Simpsons for the past week, nothing says “change of pace” like a short 1949 documentary about French slaughterhouses.  This is obviously disturbing and disgusting.  Mercifully brief… any more of this and it would have been not only repetitive but nauseating.  Nonetheless, even though it’s a nasty business, these guys clearly aren’t out to make animals suffer, and even 50 years ago they were pretty humane about it.  An interesting (but hard to watch) piece, despite the less-than-subtle narration.  Rating: 7

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The 40 Year-Old Virgin

Some pretty good laughs here, good cast and good pacing.  Nothing especially worth coming back to, but I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time either.  I liked how it avoided some intensely awkward situations by having characters actually making smart decisions.  Rating: 7

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Red-Eye

Good-enough thriller that never feels too clichéd, but never really grabs you either.  The acting performances were all very blah.  I had a problem with what I perceived to be a rather large plot hole, but my wife didn’t seem to mind so maybe I’m just being nitpicky.  Rating: 6

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