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stevie_bebop
Reviews
Adaptation. (2002)
I get it, but still disappointed
SPOILER ALERT
I won't go into performances, direction, etc., but wanted to comment on the ending, which I did get. It's Donald's ending, which is a great idea, but...
I think I was disappointed Charlie didn't finish it but copped out for a "Donald" ending, because obviously Donald isn't a great screenwriter so couldn't write a classy ending, whereas if Charlie had written a "Hollywood" ending just to finish it, it would've been a better ending and still been a great satire of Hollywood. He would've written a commercially satisfying ending instead of a sloppy one. Of course, that would negate the need for Donald to exist in the first place, which would've made the rest of the movie poorer.
What's sad is we go with Charlie for 2 acts then he abandons us and serves up something third rate and blames it all on non-existant Donald.
Roll on, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," the funniest book I ever read. I hope his adaptation didn't cause him sleepless nights.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Just a Theory [SPOILERS]
I'm not going to review this because there are enough outlines of what happens on this page already, but I do have a theory about this movie.
My eventual interpretation of the movie was that Donnie had actually gone mad and the movie was one example of his reliving of the same month, which in his mind he was doing over and over again. The therapist explaining that Donnie was in danger of completely slipping away backs this up. Likewise, as pointed out in another review here, everything is perfect for Donnie, a fantasised reality. I believe Frank running over Joanie and Donnie shooting Frank is what triggered off his descent and he cannot live with the guilt so he has, in effect, killed off his true self and lives within his mind, reliving the events that led up to the death of Joanie and Frank.
It's just a theory, and ya gotta love movies that make you come up with theories.
Maria's Lovers (1984)
Love, sex and the distance between
I haven't seen this since it came out but I still talk about it when discussing the nature of love. It deals well with an issue I believe many people can relate to: the fine line between love and hate. The whole point [I believe] of the movie is to illustrate how John Savage's inability to make love to his wife is because he loves her too purely and only once that innocent worship has been tarnished can he consummate his marriage and love his wife completely.
If you've ever wondered why your best sexual memories are of people you didn't love then this movie is for you.
Men in Black II (2002)
Not as bad as some make out
I think too many people forget the first MIB had the advantage of "coming in under the radar," as Barry Sonnenfeld said. It was original, unexpected and deservedly a hit. It is, of course, impossible to repeat that originality. Obviously expectations were way too high for some, yet there is a lot of originality going on and a lot of good ideas. The premise of bringing K back is not contrived, and it also allows for some back-story, and that's always a good thing in a sequel. The story is strong with a good twist at the end I didn't see coming. The jokes come thick and fast and I completely disagree that they're all in the trailers.
The weak points were Lara Flynn Boyle, who was given the part at the last minute so may not have had enough time to prepare, and Johnny Knoxville.
Fight Club (1999)
Rambling machismo dressed up as rebellion
Possible spoilers within.
This movie deserves a slap. It's a good idea with a suitable Hollywood twist and some competent performances. But what's the point of everybody being convincingly obnoxious? I didn't care about any of the characters. They all deserved a kicking.
We're given very little of Edward Norton's motivation for beating himself out of his mind-numbing conformity and boredom of the American Dream. He could just be a mind-numbingly boring person. After all, he doesn't seem to have any friends. He's driven but it's a vague drive outlined too quickly. I suppose we should be thankful in a movie that ends up being too long, but more of that later.
His answer to his malaise is violence but we know the point of the movie is not going to be that violence is a good thing so we go with it. We accept he's a good character doing bad things. In the course of his badness he meets other good characters doing bad things and some bad characters doing bad things too. Everybody's got a beef against the world but then none of them have any redeeming qualities to justify anybody giving a rat's @r5e.
"First rule of Fight Club: do not talk about Fight Club. Second rule of Fight Club: do not talk about Fight Club," So just where did all these other members come from anyway? Somebody's breaking rules one and two at an alarming rate. Nobody's telling any women though because the point is only men turn to violence, right? The point is not women can't fight, right? That would be politcally incorrect, and factually inaccurate to boot. WWF may be fake but those muscles on those girls are as real as their boobs aren't and each and every one of them could have Ed Norton and Brad Pitt for breakfast. But no, to represent the femenine side let's get Helena Bonham Carter, a fine actress required to do a great jpb of playing a helpless and pathetic waif. Luckily she's surrounded by big, strong guys to take care of her. If it had songs, it'd be "Camelot."
The big problem is that by the time we get the release from the paggering, it's too late. As quickly as Norton burst out of his conformist stupor, he snaps out of his self-delusion, but then we get another half an hour of waffling to an ending that again is lacking in motivation, and what was wrong was right but is wrong again. Or something.
I do like non-Hollywood-convenient endings, but they have to make sense and this one didn't. It felt like they had some days with the crew still on contract so they kept filming and adding onto the end until they figured they better use up the SFX budget to finish it.
Like I said, it was a good idea. Stanley Kubrick tried to deal with similar violence-as-rebellion ideas in Clockwork Orange. He didn't feel like he succeeded so withdrew it where he could. At least Ed and Brad didn't have to learn a load of gobbldeygook slang that made them sound silly. Malcolm McDowell not needed as vocal coach then. But I'm not reviewing Clockwork Orange. My point is it's volatile material to be handled carefully, and Fight Club goes too many rounds punch-drunk and out of it's weight category. [Sorry, that pun was below the belt]
The Matrix (1999)
Like a bass guitar solo - pointless, self-indulgent pyrotechnics.
Possible spoilers within.
Dude, it's, like, this really wild concept, y'know, where we're all in this cyber-reality and the machines are, like, in control and dude, they also make the reality, or like, what is reality, and we're the energy source and then there's like, this Saviour-type dude only cool with shades and he's all into computers but he's not a geek or he is but he's a really cool geek and hard too and only he can save the world but he doesn't know it like he's the Second Coming or something...
If I'd loved this movie, that would be my review. It's sci-fi for So-Cal surf-dudes, thrash-metal roadies and other sub-genres of the main MTV marketing demographic. Any sci-fi fan worth her salt could see through this flimsy rehash of ideas the screenplay has plundered and diluted down to something more digestable, a dumbing-down if you will, and that's not the kind of thing to do with sci-fi. Lofty and well-constructed concepts are at it's heart. I've seen more original concepts in a Star Trek episode. Hollywood's not the most original of thinkers yet still manages to produce good movies though so let's not be too harsh on this point. After all, Star Wars plunders a whole mythology or two but still works.
The first clue that we're heading for an extended MTV video is in the lobby of the cinema. The poster and life-size cardboard cutout feature the main players dressed in their de rigeur black leather and shades. All of them. It would only have taken one of them to take the shades off to give it a touch of humanity but no, nobody wanted to be the uncool one so consequently there's no eye contact at the initial point-of-sale. It made me wonder how much of their rebellious time was spent shopping for sunglasses in this oppressive alt-reality. Screen-glare must be a real drag in cyberspace. It's all so cool it's cold. In a movie that's about humanity vs. technology, that's a big strategic oversight. George Lucas gave Darth Vader sunglasses as helmet and got the bad guy of all bad guys, apart from the Emperor whose eyes also remained hidden, but if Han Solo had been in Rayban Aviators we'd have been making closed-fist up-and-down motions to our companions at his every utterance.
So, a story that avoids any stretch of brainpower, an over-abundance of "cool" and performances that are journeyman at best. What's left? Editing? Lighting? Set design? Heh, I'm teasing, of course. We all know the star of this movie is the SFX, and there's it's Achilles Heel if it can be said to have one specific weak point. The secret of a good special effect is that it's like a Starbuck's bliss bar: best nibbled in small doses, not scoffed like a bag of M&Ms. The FX should complement, not dominate. CGI needs economy of use. [CGI-only movies needing even stronger storylines and characters] Use the same Photoshop filter on an entire roll of film to get sick of it real fast.
The Matrix's SFX are so in-your-face that it's top-heavy, and they aren't even that original. The stop-motion camera array effect has been around for a long time as far as SFX go and had been done to death long before The Matrix. I believe Sting was the first one to take it out of the art world of it's creator, and how convenient for my review that it started it's life on MTV, not on the lot of Industrial Light & Magic.
The Matrix is not a lousy movie. The Wachowskis brought the same stylishness to this as they did to Bound. Unfortunately they left the rest of the successful elements behind. I'm as anticipatory of the sequel[s] as Speed 2.