Through light projected he can see himself up close
The Life Aquatic
Bill Murray has a gift for deadpan humor which you might not have guessed from his SNL days. As in Rushmore, Wes Anderson creates an incredibly nuanced world, described well by Herself as “365 degrees off from ours” – almost the same, but spun around once and just a wee bit off. I never thought I’d seriously consider buying an album of Portugese acoustic David Bowie covers, until they fit so perfectly in this movie. It was a lot of fun. However, what I find is that I like my humor really broad and this is really subtle humor. It’s the very situations themselves which are comic, less than the witty writing or zany physical comedy. It’s really very good… it’s just not Caddyshack.
Elektra
Jennifer Garner in a red halter top kicking ass. Goran Visnjic being tall, dark, handsome and vulnerable. What’s not to like? Well, a slow script for one. Also bad guys named “Tattoo”, “Typhoid”, “Stone”, and “Kinko”; I thought they’d have their names on their t-shirts and Adam West and Burt Ward would show up to save the day and do the Batusi.
Also, the elevation of a secondary character to a primary role is not to like. In the Marvel universe, Elektra is supposed to be trapped in the margins; never fully redeemable, never fully finished. So to give her the closure that a 2-hour Hollywood movie demands rubs deeply against the grain. Maybe the movie should be taken on its own, but if (like myself) you can’t do that, expect this to bug you.
House of Flying Daggers
Don’t let the martial arts fool you. This is a chick flick. Sure, it’s a violent one (plenty violent), but the plot is really about love. The secretive House of Flying Daggers is a rebel group fighting the corruption of the Tang Dynasty. The Powers That Be have the local police try to infiltrate the group, and of course people fall in love who shouldn’t. There’s flipping, flying, and throwing things, double- and triple-crosses, and some really strong acting, both technically and in character work.
If you’ve had the thought at all that you want to see Elektra, go see House of Flying Daggers instead.
(Side note: does anyone else prefer to see subtitled movies on VHS/DVD instead of a big screen? I feel like I can watch the movie and read the subtitles better on a little screen; on a big one, I have to keep shifting my visual attention.)
Saved!
Saw this one on pay-per-view. Hysterically funny and well worth seeing. The teen parts are written and acted as well as any I’ve seen. (You could have knocked me over with a feather when I realized that Mandy Moore can actually act – or that Macauley Culkin can, for that matter.)
As I’ve made clear, I’m by no means an Evangelical, but these people did ring true as having things in common with the kinds of folks I met in Catholic high school and college. Almost all the characters are earnestly searching for God in their own ways, and I don’t think that’s treated lightly. As in the Good Book and the bad world, though, the God you search for isn’t always the one who finds you.
Or maybe I’m overthinking this and you should see it because Mandy Moore drives her van into a 50-foot high plywood Jesus at the end.
Bill Murray has a gift for deadpan humor which you might not have guessed from his SNL days. As in Rushmore, Wes Anderson creates an incredibly nuanced world, described well by Herself as “365 degrees off from ours” – almost the same, but spun around once and just a wee bit off. I never thought I’d seriously consider buying an album of Portugese acoustic David Bowie covers, until they fit so perfectly in this movie. It was a lot of fun. However, what I find is that I like my humor really broad and this is really subtle humor. It’s the very situations themselves which are comic, less than the witty writing or zany physical comedy. It’s really very good… it’s just not Caddyshack.
Elektra
Jennifer Garner in a red halter top kicking ass. Goran Visnjic being tall, dark, handsome and vulnerable. What’s not to like? Well, a slow script for one. Also bad guys named “Tattoo”, “Typhoid”, “Stone”, and “Kinko”; I thought they’d have their names on their t-shirts and Adam West and Burt Ward would show up to save the day and do the Batusi.
Also, the elevation of a secondary character to a primary role is not to like. In the Marvel universe, Elektra is supposed to be trapped in the margins; never fully redeemable, never fully finished. So to give her the closure that a 2-hour Hollywood movie demands rubs deeply against the grain. Maybe the movie should be taken on its own, but if (like myself) you can’t do that, expect this to bug you.
House of Flying Daggers
Don’t let the martial arts fool you. This is a chick flick. Sure, it’s a violent one (plenty violent), but the plot is really about love. The secretive House of Flying Daggers is a rebel group fighting the corruption of the Tang Dynasty. The Powers That Be have the local police try to infiltrate the group, and of course people fall in love who shouldn’t. There’s flipping, flying, and throwing things, double- and triple-crosses, and some really strong acting, both technically and in character work.
If you’ve had the thought at all that you want to see Elektra, go see House of Flying Daggers instead.
(Side note: does anyone else prefer to see subtitled movies on VHS/DVD instead of a big screen? I feel like I can watch the movie and read the subtitles better on a little screen; on a big one, I have to keep shifting my visual attention.)
Saved!
Saw this one on pay-per-view. Hysterically funny and well worth seeing. The teen parts are written and acted as well as any I’ve seen. (You could have knocked me over with a feather when I realized that Mandy Moore can actually act – or that Macauley Culkin can, for that matter.)
As I’ve made clear, I’m by no means an Evangelical, but these people did ring true as having things in common with the kinds of folks I met in Catholic high school and college. Almost all the characters are earnestly searching for God in their own ways, and I don’t think that’s treated lightly. As in the Good Book and the bad world, though, the God you search for isn’t always the one who finds you.
Or maybe I’m overthinking this and you should see it because Mandy Moore drives her van into a 50-foot high plywood Jesus at the end.
posted by Joe at 9:05 AM
2 Comments:
"Saved" does sound good - a gold star to "Life Aquatic" for having such a long title. :-)
Side note: does anyone else prefer to see subtitled movies on VHS/DVD instead of a big screen? I feel like I can watch the movie and read the subtitles better on a little screen; on a big one, I have to keep shifting my visual attention.) OMGYES.
Totally agree.
Did I ever tell you about my collection of videotapes subtitled in Spanish?
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