Latest Movies I've seen since my previous wall of text:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
It was alright. It's been over a decade since I read this series and it brought back some memories of it all. The problem is that the books are very hard to adapt with their over-the-top sci-fi concepts and wordplay which isn't easy to put on screen. With its beginning song of "So Long and Thanks for all the Fish", it seemed to start off with great potential for a comedic adventure but it did not fulfill that hope. It had its moments and it refreshed my memory again on the story but all the ideas, effects and actors just didn't blend well with some things and character motivations left unexplained. My rating: So-so.
Life Itself
This had a lot of good reviews and was a pretty highly rated film from last year going by Rotten Tomatoes. Filming for this began close to the time of Roger Ebert's death which occurred as production was happening giving the film a bit of a tragic ending. I learned some interesting and new things about his life that I didn't know before and it was fascinating how much Siskel and Ebert really did hate each other for some time in their relationship. Yet, the most poignant and gripping material may have been the present day stuff of him fighting on despite through the cancer battles and his health issues. My rating: Very Good.
20 Feet from Stardom
I'm not a big fan of documentaries and this movie falls in line with my less than positive perception of documentaries. Here are some background singers that have worked with some big artists. You may have heard their background vocals on some pretty famous songs the film will provide examples. Now you know who sung that stuff. Despite having good singing voices, a lot of these background singers couldn't get a solo act. Why not? Who knows. The film can't figure out for sure, aside from Darlene Love who was blocked by Phil Specter. Did you know that nowadays not many artists are using these great background vocal singers? Won't you please hire these background vocalists and prevent a potential music travesty from occurring? The end. Oscar please! I can't believe this won Best Documentary over The Act of Killing. My rating: Skip it unless you are really, really into music and like knowing various histories and anecdotes behind various groups and songs.
The Color Purple
Watching this, I was reminded of the movie Precious incredibly. Perhaps it was from the main character's dad who impregnated her twice (just like Precious's father did to her), or the abuse heaped on her from her husband (like Monique's character hating on Precious), or it could have been from the singer Sugar who helps the main character blossom and is a bit promiscuous even leading to a bit of lesbianism with the main character (just like Precious's teacher, who is a lesbian, helps her grow and escape the abuse of her mother). Yet, despite these odd parallels, The Color Purple is far superior from Precious. The writing and story is stronger but it probably helps that the director for it is Spielberg who wanted to prove a point that he could direct a solid drama without special effects or sci-fi elements.
This movie is one of those few films that has a literary feeling in that it gives me the sensation that I'm watching a book. It comes from dialogue, from the characters and the structure of the film but the way things are set up and introduced, the various conflicts and their resolutions just remind me of my time reading classics of literature and how they unfolded. The only resolution I was less sold on was how Sugar resolved the differences with her father but then the movie didn't spend much time building that plotline up or developing it much. Yet, as silly as the resolution is on reflection, at the time and in the movie, it was actually one of the emotional highpoints so Spielberg is able to get away with it. Incredibly, this is pretty much Whoopi Goldberg's debut film getting her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and launching her career. It's the best role I've ever seen her in and probably her best career performance. Up to this point, I'd always felt her work on Star Trek: TNG was the best I'd seen her do and, even then, I wasn't a big fan of her character so to see her carry a movie and deliver a great performance like this was surprising. My rating: Secretly great. After watching it, I knew it was good but wasn't really sure what I felt about it. After a couple more days processing it all, I find myself admiring it more and more and really being impressed by it.
All About my Mother
Recently, the AV Club did an article talking about Pedro Almodovar. Despite knowing about him and being aware of many of his films, I realized I had still yet to see any one of them. As luck would have it, I came across a copy of this film while at the library a week or two later so I checked it out. I knew this was an Oscar for Best Foreign Film as well. I get why the movie would have been lauded at the time but it feels sort of dated to me. The plot makes a lot of allusions to All About Eve and A Streetcar Named Desire and there are times where it seems like the plot may begin to veer in the same direction as one of those stories but then it seemingly abandons that path and goes in another direction. I found the film intriguing because of not knowing where it was going and it actually has a resolve that is able to tie a lot of things up and together when I didn't think it possible. However, it never really engaged me emotionally despite having many elements that could or would seemingly allow it do so. Plus, reflecting on the plot after watching it, there are a few actions that strike me as ridiculous or preposterous that occur and that brings it down my opinion on it a bit. My rating: Good but I also don't think you're missing out on much if you don't ever see it.
Rififi
I liked this one a lot. Film Noir is one of my absolute favorite genres. After suffering through a slog of a lot of French films I've disliked or hated, I seem to be have finally found ones that align with my tastes more. Rififi is the story of 4 criminals who work come together for a jewel heist, plot it and carry it out. This being the 1950's, everything falls apart after the heist which is the one thing that disappoints me about the film. Even when things go wrong, Tony and Jo still have a chance to turn it around and succeed but the moral code of the time didn't let crooks succeed and film noir isn't always about happy endings. Still, even knowing that tragedy is coming, there's a lot to recommend about this film although the centerpiece is the heist itself. It's the kind of thing that inspires you to want to make your own heist film or maybe even pull one of yourself. The smartness they all display in how they communicate, in their equipment and watching their timing helps win you over to their side making it all the more disappointing that it will later all be for naught. My Rating: Great. Even though the technology may be outdated, it doesn't diminish the effectiveness of the heist. Absolutely worth seeing even if it isn't a happy ending.
Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen (Read 1553269 times)
