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Reviews
Sunshine (2007)
Very Well Possibly, One of the Most Disappointing Movies
The movie opens up with enough potential, and with a pretty interesting idea: the sun is dying, and the crew essentially need to restart it. The initial crew that went out to attempt to do the same thing, Icarus I, mysteriously disappeared. Of course, the crew of Icarus II hear the distress call that was masked by the gravity of Venus, and decide to alter their course to use the payload to double their chances of recharging the sun.
So far so good. At this point, the movie is moving at a brisk pace. with a surprisingly good performance by Chris Evans who places the mission above all things. Also, the movie portrays what life on a ship must be like, especially for one of this length: the ship has an on board psychologist, an 'Earth Room" to de-stress oneself, a replenishing oxygen/fauna room, etc etc. The point where the Icuras II comes into contact with Icuras I is where the movie falls apart.
Of course, following the conventions of the thriller, something goes wrong. And the tension is HIGH, Danny Boyle does a fantastic job of conveying the urgency of getting back to the Icurus II. After a miraculous jump through space, the crew comes back, but unknowingly, with an extra passenger. Who do you think sabotaged the linking of the ships in the first place? After this, rather than go on a philosophical angle like "Solaris", it takes notes from "Event Horizon", the movie reduces itself to a slasher/horror movie. Thats right, the single living crew member of the Icurus I is still alive, still able to speak, still able to run around not only normally, but superhumanly, and is pretty damn strong, goes around the Icurus II, because he's had conversations with God. An interesting idea that is ultimately executed terribly. The script could have used another revision or two or three to rework this entire act and the motivation of the stowaway.
Over all, the movie is in a pretty wrapper, but nothing much else. It is beautifully filmed, great acting, Boyle's directing is up to par, as per usual, but over all, a major disappointment.
Zoot Suit (1981)
Maybe I Was Expecting Too Much...
Myabe I was expecting too much. After hearing about the play for so many years, I finally was able to get my hands on watching the film version. First off, its not really a movie per se as much as its a filmed version of the play. To me, this was the truly distracting thing of the movie. Two totally different mediums, totally different ways of telling a story.
The dialog at times came off as stilted and trying too hard to sound like *authentic* Hispanic speak. Eh. To each their own. Olmoses performance in it is astounding, coming off as extremely despicable.
Some rather nit picky things. It bothered me when Olmos comes out as the (heavily implied) Aztec native. The connection is made that a true Mexican is one who is touch with their native roots, a rather narrow definition in my opinion. Also, there is almost absolutely no feminine perspective in the entire movie. None, other than the stereotypical loca chica drunk. Those were the things that I had the biggest problems with.
Henry's own demons, for me at least, is what makes this movie worth watching, and the manipulation of even then modern cinema could have done a lot with that, but squandered it. We see him caught between being one who is in between the hyphen (the idea as a Mexican-American, he is neither Mexican nor American, but in between) asking if he should listen to his conscience or El Pachuco (or even if his conscience is El Pachuco, which is a personal theory of mine, but opens a whole 'nother can of worms that ties into the Aztec thing that is enough for a thesis paper)
Fantastic soundtrack, and if you should happen to have the luck of coming across it, than I would definitely buy it, as its excellent.
All and all, its an interesting perspective on Mexican-American lives in LA during the 1940's, and a small glimpse of the Zoot Suit Riots.
Final grade: C+ for effort.
Rent (2005)
A mishmash of meandering plot lines.
I'm never sure how to view film adaptations of plays, books, television shows, etc. Does one view it as a film? As an adaptation of the play to film? How faithful the transition is from stage to film? I have not seen the play performed in any capacity so perhaps that is a blessing and a curse. A cures because I have nothing to compare the movie to. A blessing because if the play is in anyway similar to the movie, I will stay as far away from it as possible.
The film focuses on a group of faux-Bohemians living in the Alphabet City region of New York City, in a large, run down loft, refusing to pay the rent. The owner of the buildings want to tear them down and build a 'virtual reality loft', or something to that extent. What that is exactly is never really explained.
Perhaps it is my experience in property management that has biased me, but for me, it was easy to see why the owner wished to do so. The buildings are hemmoreging money, tenets are refusing to pay, the places are is so much disrepair, that it would be ludicrous to attempt to do so. Eviction, sadly, is a truth of the world, and more often than not, ample time (at least in California) is given to tenants.
Perhaps the film suffers too much from the boring hand of Chris Columbus. Several plot lines are weaved through, none of which are given any time to really come to fruitarian. Are we to focus on Mimis and Rogers budding relationship? The AIDS infected lovers? The biracial lesbian lovers with the rocky relationship? The aspiring film maker there to show the true New York? We never know. I assume that we are to feel to most of Angels death, but his time on screen is so short, his funeral comes off as flat and unnecessary.
Oddly enough, the best scene in the movie, for me at least, was the scene that seemed to run completely counter to the films theme. While filming a homeless women being moved by police, Mark says to the officers "Smile for Ted Kopple, officers". It is not the police that push him away, but the homeless women. "I don't need your help, artist" she says. "This city if full of artist. You want to help me? You got a dollar?" Sullen, and looking away, she continues on, "Yeah, I thought so". In a film that tries to romanticizes poverty and demise in a region of the city that is the American Calcutta, that scene cuts sharply.
Save your money. Luckily, I had free tickets, so I paid nothing, but in a theater that had a dozen people or so, its not a good sign when you see at least four walk out.