Change Your Image
chris-69545
Reviews
You Might as Well Live (2009)
Don't waste your time
Since watching this movie last evening I've been trying to decide what audience it was made for. All I can come up with was 30-40-something and stoned. I'm sorry, the humour was so sophomoric, simple, and just plain un-funny it's border-line unbearable. I shamefully resisted the urge to shut it off after the first scene, and in hindsight I'd be a better person if I had. The reason I stuck it out is that the acting, with a few notable exceptions, is actually not terrible. Gotta feel for an actor who has this atrocity on their resume.
Your Beautiful Cul de Sac Home (2007)
Good premise, lacking continuity
We watched "Your Beautiful Cul de Sac Home" last night, choosing it on it's premise and without knowing anything about the film. While the story line held promise, I found the delivery- or perhaps the editing- to be discontinuous and disjointed. It was a struggle to figure out relationships and to follow the story line. If the intent was to create an art film by creating a helter skelter feeling, the mark was sadly missed here as well. Rather, the style only served to obscure a clear understanding of what was actually going on, which served only to distract from what was otherwise an interesting plot and some solid acting. I felt characters were largely undeveloped, actions unexplained, and relationships unfulfilled. When the credits rolled, I thought maybe I had fallen asleep and missed an important explanation or sequence. My wife assures me that's not the case.
Basquiat (1996)
good but not great
While the acting in this film is spectacular, and the camera-work is worth the watch alone, the film still somehow comes up short for me. There were gaps in the story line that went unfilled; discontinuity that was distracting. Metaphors felt clunky and amateurish. Yet the film affected me, disturbed me. Such a waste was Basquiat's life (some would argue not so; but any life taken by drugs has been wasted in my opinion) that the images stuck with me for days. In this the director is successful. While I understand this wasn't a biography, I can't help but feel there were cards left un played here. As a piece of art this film stands up better than it does as a biography. But the distinction isn't clearly made by the director: it's offered up chronologically and has many of the other expected hallmarks of a biographical piece. In that sense it's confusing. If you choose to watch this film- and I do recommend it- you should with that in mind. Learn about Basquiat's life independently, then watch it without this preconception.