March (Movie) Madness
Hey everyone! The past two weeks have brought some welcome relief to us avid movie-goers. I saw two back to back that I enjoyed. These are the first two movies of 2006 that I've seen that have actually been worth a trip to the cinema.
V For Vendetta - I am a huge fan of Natalie Portman's and of the Wachowski brothers' films Bound and Matrix 1. Matrix 2 and 3 were pretty big letdowns for me. Almost everything I heard about V was from last summer when the film got postponed after the London tube bombings. Then I read on Creede's website that it was based on a comic written back in the 80s while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. The opening and closing scenes of V were by far my favorites - absolute masterpieces of combined special effects and music. Buildings in London were bombed with fireworks going off to the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, one of the few pieces of classical music I not only love, but can reliably identify. The tone that most of this movie is told in is what makes the blowing up of buildings okay. First off, it is based on a comic book and is set in the future, so it just doesn't seem real. Maybe they're trying to get us to see that this is what the future could be like, but I didn't really buy it. To me, this was more of a fantastical work that did result in a bit of post-movie discussion. I found the violence to be on par to seeing aliens blow up the White House in Independence Day - another movie whose explosions I loved. There were no suicide bombings in the movie, in fact the bomber goes out of his way to broadcast the date and exact location of his newxt target. On top of that, the message of V was basically to fight to win back freedoms taken by a truly fascist government - and what could be more American than that? If you want to read more into V than that, you probably can, but you were not beat over the head with any kind of politicking. Natalie Portman was fabulous in the film and there are few actresses that can so easily pull off the shaved head look. Hugo Weaving, the Matrix's Agent Smith stars as the man in the mask. I did wish I could see movement in his face, and as an actor I can't imagine how daunting this role was, but he also did a great job. I have to say that V felt overly long to me and that it slowed down a bit in the middle. I kept wanting more explosions. Those at the end were worth the wait.
The Inside Man - This weekend Thomas, Jen and I went to see the new Spike Lee movie, Inside Man. Spike Lee is one of my favorite modern-day directors. It doesn't hurt that as I sit typing this I can look to a photo I took with him a few years ago at the Denver Distinguished Lecture Series. He was very nice and let me have two pictures taken. I thoroughly enjoyed his thought-provoking lecture. Aside from Henry Kissinger's, it was the best I heard in that series. I've also enjoyed a good many of his films, Malcolm X (the movie Denzel should have won his lead Oscar for), in particular. I have felt that Lee's been off his game a bit lately though. The last film of his that I enjoyed was 2002's 25th Hour starring Edward Norton and this year's Oscar winner, P.S. Hoffman. I was thrilled that Lee returned to form with Inside Man starring the delicous Denzel, the equally delicious Clive Owen and an under-used Jody Foster. I can only take so many movies about bank heists and "one last job"s, but Inside Man had an original script, fabulous actors and a great director. It definitely freshened up this over-played genre. It makes me sooooo glad that I did not waste my time on this year's poorly reviewed Firewall starring Harrison Ford. The other noteworthy thing about Inside Man was its well-defined characters - even those with the smallest of parts felt like they had fully-drawn people to play - from the Albanian ex-wife to the Sikh frustrated with being constantly mistaken for a Muslim terrorist. There are many twists to the story that I don't want to spoil, and the script doesn't tie up every loose end. Even today I've been exchanging emails with Jen filled with speculation. My only real problem with the movie though was the ever-changing camera styles. Lee did not employ one particular look and feel for this movie, a la Michael Mann. At times the camera jittered wildly and at other times he would employed fast close-up swoops, both of which I suffered in agony given my battle with motion sickness. I have to wonder if enough people enjoy this style of film-making to make up for all of us that get sickened by it. If I could ban something in the world, that would be near the top of my list. Denzel and Clive and a smart story make Inside Man a can't miss, queasy stomach or not. I'd say it's definitely the most enjoyable film of 2006...yet.
-sunday
R.I.P. Caspar Weinberger.
V For Vendetta - I am a huge fan of Natalie Portman's and of the Wachowski brothers' films Bound and Matrix 1. Matrix 2 and 3 were pretty big letdowns for me. Almost everything I heard about V was from last summer when the film got postponed after the London tube bombings. Then I read on Creede's website that it was based on a comic written back in the 80s while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. The opening and closing scenes of V were by far my favorites - absolute masterpieces of combined special effects and music. Buildings in London were bombed with fireworks going off to the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, one of the few pieces of classical music I not only love, but can reliably identify. The tone that most of this movie is told in is what makes the blowing up of buildings okay. First off, it is based on a comic book and is set in the future, so it just doesn't seem real. Maybe they're trying to get us to see that this is what the future could be like, but I didn't really buy it. To me, this was more of a fantastical work that did result in a bit of post-movie discussion. I found the violence to be on par to seeing aliens blow up the White House in Independence Day - another movie whose explosions I loved. There were no suicide bombings in the movie, in fact the bomber goes out of his way to broadcast the date and exact location of his newxt target. On top of that, the message of V was basically to fight to win back freedoms taken by a truly fascist government - and what could be more American than that? If you want to read more into V than that, you probably can, but you were not beat over the head with any kind of politicking. Natalie Portman was fabulous in the film and there are few actresses that can so easily pull off the shaved head look. Hugo Weaving, the Matrix's Agent Smith stars as the man in the mask. I did wish I could see movement in his face, and as an actor I can't imagine how daunting this role was, but he also did a great job. I have to say that V felt overly long to me and that it slowed down a bit in the middle. I kept wanting more explosions. Those at the end were worth the wait.
The Inside Man - This weekend Thomas, Jen and I went to see the new Spike Lee movie, Inside Man. Spike Lee is one of my favorite modern-day directors. It doesn't hurt that as I sit typing this I can look to a photo I took with him a few years ago at the Denver Distinguished Lecture Series. He was very nice and let me have two pictures taken. I thoroughly enjoyed his thought-provoking lecture. Aside from Henry Kissinger's, it was the best I heard in that series. I've also enjoyed a good many of his films, Malcolm X (the movie Denzel should have won his lead Oscar for), in particular. I have felt that Lee's been off his game a bit lately though. The last film of his that I enjoyed was 2002's 25th Hour starring Edward Norton and this year's Oscar winner, P.S. Hoffman. I was thrilled that Lee returned to form with Inside Man starring the delicous Denzel, the equally delicious Clive Owen and an under-used Jody Foster. I can only take so many movies about bank heists and "one last job"s, but Inside Man had an original script, fabulous actors and a great director. It definitely freshened up this over-played genre. It makes me sooooo glad that I did not waste my time on this year's poorly reviewed Firewall starring Harrison Ford. The other noteworthy thing about Inside Man was its well-defined characters - even those with the smallest of parts felt like they had fully-drawn people to play - from the Albanian ex-wife to the Sikh frustrated with being constantly mistaken for a Muslim terrorist. There are many twists to the story that I don't want to spoil, and the script doesn't tie up every loose end. Even today I've been exchanging emails with Jen filled with speculation. My only real problem with the movie though was the ever-changing camera styles. Lee did not employ one particular look and feel for this movie, a la Michael Mann. At times the camera jittered wildly and at other times he would employed fast close-up swoops, both of which I suffered in agony given my battle with motion sickness. I have to wonder if enough people enjoy this style of film-making to make up for all of us that get sickened by it. If I could ban something in the world, that would be near the top of my list. Denzel and Clive and a smart story make Inside Man a can't miss, queasy stomach or not. I'd say it's definitely the most enjoyable film of 2006...yet.
-sunday
R.I.P. Caspar Weinberger.
posted by Sunday at
1:43 PM
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