The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (2004) - Mar. 29, 2005 (Second Viewing)
A masterpiece. Definitely up there with Wes Anderson's best films. Like all of his films, it's really rich and improves on repeat viewings. I definitely liked it even more this time. It's certainly one of the best looking movies I've ever seen. Visually, from the intricate set designs to Wes Anderson's dazzling direction, it's definitely something to behold. I don't think there's a single shot in this movie that isn't impressive to look at. I could watch this movie on mute and still be entertained the whole time. So basically, even if it had nothing else going for it, it would be worth it for the visuals alone. Fortunately, it has a lot else going for it. The script is just as sharp as we have come to expect from Anderson. The characters are all really well developed and become people we really care about. The film is at times funny, touching and exciting. The performances are all really good, particularly Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. But most of all the film is just a joy to watch from start to finish; you certainly get the sense when you're watching it that you're watching something special, and something that will be remembered for years to come. ****

Layer Cake

LAYER CAKE (2004) - Mar. 28, 2005
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, a long-time producer of Guy Ritchie movies, this movie essentially plays out like a far less flashy version of one of Ritchie's films. Daniel Craig is really good in the main role, and in fact his performance is one the main reasons the film is as effective as it is. And Colm Meaney is good (as always) in a smaller part. The plot gets a little convoluted at times, which is exacerbated somewhat by the heavy British accents. But it was definitely entertaining throughout, if not quite the instant classic some are making it out to be. ***

Interview with the Vampire

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994) - Mar. 20, 2005
This movie features some really good performances, particularly by Tom Cruise, and is essentially entertaining. But it is slow, and it drags a bit, particularly around the middle. It doesn't help that it's essentially plotless, and after a while it's like, okay, I get it -- being a vampire isn't all it's cracked up to be. So I got a bit sick of it after a while, but I was never entirely bored, and it was well made and well acted. ***

Edward Scissorhands

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990) - Mar. 19, 2005 (Second Viewing)
Though he probably has no more than ten lines or so, Johnny Depp is excellent in the title role in this film by Tim Burton. Burton is in peak form here; this is one of his best films (after Ed Wood and Pee Wee's Big Adventure). ***1/2

The Ring Two

THE RING TWO (2005) - Mar. 18, 2005
While I'm glad this movie wasn't even remotely as scary as the first one (which messed me up for months), it would have been nice if it had been just a little bit scary. Or if it had been good. Unfortunately, this movie is neither scary or good, and is pretty much inferior to the original in every possible way. The opening sequence pretty much sets the stage for what's to come, as it's strikingly similar to the opening sequence of the first film, only not good. Where the opening of the first one was super-suspensful, and pretty electrifying, this one was just cheesy. In fact, that's a pretty good way to describe the whole movie: cheesy. It didn't help that it was really slow-paced, and dragged in parts. The first movie was slow too, but it used that pace to set up an atmosphere of constant dread. This one was just boring. A bizarre cameo from Gary Cole was probably the highlight of the film, but aside from that this was pretty much a wash. **

Kundun

KUNDUN (1997) - Mar. 7, 2005
Though essentially well-directed by Martin Scorsese, this film was extremely slow paced, and at times downright boring. The main problem was that there weren't really any characters. There were lots of people in the film, but we don't really get to know any of them. Even the Dalai Lama himself is never developed beyond the superficial. If you put a gun to my head I honestly would not be able to name a single character from the film. So it's sort of tough to ever really care about anything that happens when we never get to know a single person. The film looked good, I suppose, but good visuals can only go so far. It also doesn't help that there's a point where it seems like the movie should end, but then it keeps going for what feels like another half an hour. It was quite interminable. **

Three... Extremes

THREE... EXTREMES (2004) - Mar. 6, 2005 (S)
Featuring three short films, one by Takashi Miike, one by Fruit Chan, and one by Chan-wook Park, this was a surprisingly bad movie. Miike's film was first, and was about a woman who killed her sister by mistake and still lives with the grief years later. It was well-directed, I suppose, but aside from that it was slow and bizarre and ultimately pointless. So that's forty minutes of my life I'll never get back, and I figure it can't go anywhere but up at this point. Astoundingly, the next film, by Chan, managed to be even worse. I don't know who thought this was a good idea for a movie, no matter how short: a woman attempts to regain her youth by eating dumplings made out of baby fetuses. Baby fetuses! It's just as ludicrous as it sounds, if not more so. Fortunately, the final film, by Old Boy's Chan-wook Park, was actually good. It wasn't great or anything, but compared to the first two crap-fests it looked like Citizen Kane. It helped that it had a premise that's pretty hard to mess up: a man is told that if he doesn't kill a child, his piano-playing wife's fingers will be chopped off -- one finger every five minutes. So that was pretty good, but it still wasn't worth having to sit through those first two stinkers. (** for the first one, *1/2 for the second, and *** for the third). **

Robots

ROBOTS (2005) - Mar. 6, 2005
This movie started off really well, but then sort of lost its way as it went on. The beginning sequence, with Rodney Copperbottom growing up and first going to the big city, was really good. Stanley Tucci is excellent as Rodney's dad. And for a while, the film remains very entertaining, mostly because of how good it all looks. Visually, this is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Kudos to whoever designed this movie; the whole city and all the robots were almost always fascinating to look at. But the movie itself just sort of runs out of steam after a while. Robin Williams was fine, but he wasn't really playing a character -- he was just Robin Williams being wacky, which got tiresome after a while. The movie definitely can't even come close to anything Pixar has done, or even to the previous movie by these same directors, Ice Age. It doesn't help that it feels like it's going more for the kiddies than the type of universal appeal of Pixar (complete with fart and Britney Spears jokes). But the whole thing looks so good you can almost just overlook its flaws and be entertained purely on the visuals alone. ***

The Incredibles

THE INCREDIBLES (2004) - Mar. 3, 2005 (Fifth Viewing)
Though I was afraid this movie might lose a lot on the small screen, it's just as awesome on TV as it was in the theatres. It's obviously a big screen movie, and that's where it should ideally be seen (though that's pretty much true for all movies), the Incredibles is sweet no matter where you see it. ****