THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) - April 30, 2005
Given that this movie featured both Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant, and is regarded as a classic of the genre, it was perhaps a bit of a disappointment. However it was still quite enjoyable and obviously very well acted. The dialogue was a bit stagey at times but aside from that no major complaints. ***
Short reviews of all the movies I see, rated out of four. Reviews containing spoilers are marked with an (S).
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Monday, April 25, 2005
XXX: State of the Union
XXX: STATE OF THE UNION (2005) - April 25, 2005
While the first XXX was pretty mediocre, it was a masterpiece compared to this movie. The movie is never exciting, it's flat-out boring and even worse, confusing at times. I guess there was so much action there wasn't even time to explain what was going on half of the time. Why did XXX have to work outside of the system at the beginning of the film? Why did he do half the stuff he did? The movie doesn't slow down to answer questions like these, instead thrusting Ice Cube into one boring action sequence after another. And not a single one was good. They were all so bland; it was like the film was directed by an emotionless, artless robot whose only knowledge was of other action movies. The film features all the requisite action movie cliches: XXX jumping onto a flying helicopter, XXX walking away from an explosion in slow motion, XXX spouting one-liners. And yet it was all so boring, so dull, so routine. By the end of the movie I was bored out of my mind and fully ready to walk out. At least it was short, though it felt very very long. *
While the first XXX was pretty mediocre, it was a masterpiece compared to this movie. The movie is never exciting, it's flat-out boring and even worse, confusing at times. I guess there was so much action there wasn't even time to explain what was going on half of the time. Why did XXX have to work outside of the system at the beginning of the film? Why did he do half the stuff he did? The movie doesn't slow down to answer questions like these, instead thrusting Ice Cube into one boring action sequence after another. And not a single one was good. They were all so bland; it was like the film was directed by an emotionless, artless robot whose only knowledge was of other action movies. The film features all the requisite action movie cliches: XXX jumping onto a flying helicopter, XXX walking away from an explosion in slow motion, XXX spouting one-liners. And yet it was all so boring, so dull, so routine. By the end of the movie I was bored out of my mind and fully ready to walk out. At least it was short, though it felt very very long. *
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Sin City
SIN CITY (2005) - April 23, 2005
I'll give this movie one thing, it looked good. You wouldn't think a direct panel-to-screen adaptation of a comic book would work, but it does. The use of colour to accentuate certain things in an otherwise black and white movie is another odd choice that definitely worked. So kudos to Robert Rodriguez for making a movie that was almost always visually exciting. But as for the movie itself, well I was definitely enjoying it at first. The story with Mickey Rourke was really good (though perhaps a tad long), but by the middle of the one with Clive Owen I was starting to get restless. After that one I thought it was going to be over, but then there was a whole other story with Bruce Willis. It was pretty good, I guess, but I was definitely ready for the movie to be over at that point. It didn't help that the over the top hard-boiled narration was really starting to wear on me after a while. Don't get me wrong, I like hard-boiled prose as much as the next guy, but after a while it's like shut up for a second. Jeez. Clearly Robert Rodriguez has never heard the old adage "show, don't tell." Oh well. The performances were all really good, it looked good, obviously, and I guess I was never all-out bored. But this was a bit of a disappointment. **1/2
I'll give this movie one thing, it looked good. You wouldn't think a direct panel-to-screen adaptation of a comic book would work, but it does. The use of colour to accentuate certain things in an otherwise black and white movie is another odd choice that definitely worked. So kudos to Robert Rodriguez for making a movie that was almost always visually exciting. But as for the movie itself, well I was definitely enjoying it at first. The story with Mickey Rourke was really good (though perhaps a tad long), but by the middle of the one with Clive Owen I was starting to get restless. After that one I thought it was going to be over, but then there was a whole other story with Bruce Willis. It was pretty good, I guess, but I was definitely ready for the movie to be over at that point. It didn't help that the over the top hard-boiled narration was really starting to wear on me after a while. Don't get me wrong, I like hard-boiled prose as much as the next guy, but after a while it's like shut up for a second. Jeez. Clearly Robert Rodriguez has never heard the old adage "show, don't tell." Oh well. The performances were all really good, it looked good, obviously, and I guess I was never all-out bored. But this was a bit of a disappointment. **1/2
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Fever Pitch
FEVER PITCH (2005) - April 20, 2005
Though I wish he had stayed on SNL a little bit longer, Jimmy Fallon definitely proves here that he has what it takes to make it as a leading man in Hollywood (which was probably in doubt after Taxi, which I fortunately did not see). Drew Barrymore was also good, but this being her 679th romantic comedy, that's not much of a surprise. As far as romantic comedies go this was pretty standard stuff, but it was well done and enjoyable throughout, if a bit on the long side. ***
Though I wish he had stayed on SNL a little bit longer, Jimmy Fallon definitely proves here that he has what it takes to make it as a leading man in Hollywood (which was probably in doubt after Taxi, which I fortunately did not see). Drew Barrymore was also good, but this being her 679th romantic comedy, that's not much of a surprise. As far as romantic comedies go this was pretty standard stuff, but it was well done and enjoyable throughout, if a bit on the long side. ***
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