Saw II

I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the original, but it didn’t seem important, and anyway I had Elizabeth fill me in beforehand.  Umm… not too bad, I guess.  For a horror film, there were some very horrifying parts (the syringe scene gave me hardcore willies).  I’m so sick of the philosophical serial killer, though.  From Silence of the Lambs to Se7en to the entire “Wire in the Blood” series… enough already.  I’m not an expert on serial killers, but I bet most of them aren’t this cerebral about it.  They just like killing, and they’re maybe smart enough or lucky enough to get away with it for a while, but I’m sure they’re not this sophisticated and scholarly about the process.  Rating: 6

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The Wizard of Oz (rewatch)

As many times as I’ve seen this (and for any of my family reading this, you’ll know how many that is) it still charms and delights.  The four central characters are examples of absolutely perfect casting, the music and dance is spellbinding, and the film manages to suck you right into the world of Oz (despite being “cheap” by today’s standards).  I do have to say, however, that I find most of the Munchkinland sequence to be annoying, and the “King of the Forest” scene a bit dull and out of place.  But when a movie can warm your heart as much as this, a few quibbles can be overlooked.  I still get teary-eyed when Dorothy tells Scarecrow “I think I’ll miss you most of all”.  Sniff.  Rating: 10

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Kind Hearts and Coronets

These Ealing comedies really don’t do it for me.  They’re fun to watch, and I get the humor, but they’re not laugh-out-loud funny to me.  More funny in a quiet, whimsical way.  The obvious attraction in Kind Hearts is Alec Guinness playing 8 different roles, and he’s very good.  Dennis Price is quite good in the lead, too.  The movie is easy to watch, cleverly plotted, and I’d probably see it again if I caught it while flipping channels or something.  But I can’t say it knocked my socks off.  Rating: 7

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Mad Hot Ballroom

Quite charming and heartwarming.  It’s nice to see kids who are neither precocious little sugar cubes nor corrupted little shits.  Rating: 8 

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Batman Begins

Certainly not a bad film… well-constructed, basically enjoyable from start to finish, even mildly exciting at times.  But I’m tired of these attempts to make comic book stories “adult”.  Comics are fun, brainless, childish entertainment, and trying to make them complex by giving the hero a “dark side” just seems silly.  It’s more adolescent than adult.  Also, what the hell is Katie Holmes doing here?  She’s nothing more than a pair of nipples which have a habit of poking through whatever garment she happens to be wearing.  What, they don’t have brassieres in Gotham?  Rating: 7

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Me and You and Everyone We Know

Less substantial than it wants to be, but there are some pretty funny moments.  This is “Sundance bait” of a slightly different flavor than Elizabethtown… more quirk, multiple storylines interconnecting, hints of perversion.  It’s basically the lighter side of Happiness.  Watchable but not that memorable.  Rating: 7

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North Country

I hate “inspired by a true story”.  Either give me the real story or make something up.  Don’t give me this in-between nonsense and make me guess what’s real and what isn’t.  It’s hard to get indignant about the things you want me to get indignant about when you don’t tell me if they actually happened or not.  It’s also hard to get indignant about it when your movie has clichéd crap in it, like the attorney bullying the witness until he finally breaks down and blurts out the truth… or the scene where, one by one, other characters slowly and silently stand up in support of the protagonist.  That stuff is awful. 

I have other complaints, but up until the last act it was okay, though a step down from Whale Rider.  Rating: 6

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Doom

I went into this knowing it would be stupid, and stupid it was.  Problem is, I expected it to be a fun kind of stupid.  Doom doesn’t have nearly enough action, especially for a movie based on a videogame that’s so packed with action.  And except for the all-too-brief first-person scene, even the action scenes feel perfunctory and rote.  Rating: 5

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Le Corbeau

About on par with Quai des Orfèvres (but with a much better ending), not quite as good as Les Diaboliques.  Jeez, what a dumb way to talk about a movie.  I can barely remember Diaboliques anyway.  I’ll just say, I don’t love it, but I liked it enough.  Rating: 8

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Elizabethtown

Godawful sentimentality.  Crowe, in his usual fashion, needs to punctuate every single emotional moment with an appropriate lite rock tune (often giving the characters an opportunity to do a heartwarming carefree little dance).  Of course, most of the characters are dripping with good ol’ American charming quirkiness and/or wise little tidbits that perfectly sum up life’s bittersweetness.  This is what I like to call “Sundance bait”: the likes of Sideways and Garden State and Moonlight Mile.  Just plain folks dealing with just plain problems and finding strength through horrible one-liners.  Also, the whole “shoe fiasco” is extremely implausible, nor is it ever really explained.  Other crimes against cinema: the goddamn “getting cleansed by the rain” scene (in this case, fire sprinklers, but same thing)… character calmly standing in a downpour, arms outstretched, eyes closed, face tilted up in an expression of peace.  And perhaps most cringeworthy: trying to milk Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder for a little extra emotional oomph, complete with U2′s “Pride (In the Name of Love)” on the soundtrack.  Fucking shameful.

Despite all this… the movie is well-made (just horribly scripted) and the performances are all pretty good.  It’s kind of fun, in a certain stomach-churning way.  It manages to be touching, but how could it not when it’s trying so damn hard?  Rating: 5 

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