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goboogie
Reviews
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
P.S. Your editor is dead.
He died from attempting to make a 72 y/o man look like an action
hero.
I don't even want to waste my time writing about this, except to
warn you to not waste your time or money either. If I can save just
one viewer, my work will be worth it.
The Hard Word (2002)
Slick yet Gritty
I gave it a ten to drive up the average (though I don't believe there
are many ten movies out there).
This is a cool, smooth movie, slick as Ocean's Eleven but not as
glossy. Guy Pearce is merely great and how come that girl isn't so
pretty but it works? She looks so much like Juliette Lewis it's
uncanny. Not quite in the same league acting wise, but hey, this is
Australia. Where, by the way, the cops must be so stupid cuz this
crew leaves dead bodies, including cops bodies, all over their
homes and no one catches up to them.
What is the hard word? Love? Or murder? You be the judge.
The Hours (2002)
Better spent than the hours reading the book.
When I first saw a trailer for this movie I groaned, having found the
book to be a trial but remembering being rewarded at the end.
This is one of those rare rare instances where the movie far
outshines the book. These characterizations are just way more
interesting to watch than to read about.
The casting is genius, few can do interiority better than Julianne
Moore, Nicole Kidman's artistry continues at a perfect pitch, and
Meryl Streep's depth is heart wrenching and enveloping.
I could have done without the dated AIDS portrayal though. I
remember forgiving it in the book as it may have taken place in the
mid 80's, when such wasting syndrome and helpless self pity was
the prevalent picture of AIDS. Modern cases are far less dramatic,
which makes the whole depiction suspiciously like exploitation.
Adaptation. (2002)
Adapt or die.
I don't think a lot of people get this movie.
Meryl Streep once again flashes her genius talent and leads this
story by the tag line from NYC to a FL swamp, with all the aplomb
and comic grace of a brainy modern Lucy Ricardo.
Hint for those lost viewers: The NYC hotel room where the
brothers come together is where this turns into an all together
different movie.
Hint #2: Even with all the post modern angst piled up, it's just a
movie.
Out of Sight (1998)
Steven and Elmore get blindsided.
How did they get sucked into this vortex of swirling crapola? I couldn't even drag a friend to see this with me in the theater, my library of Elmore Leonard books and admiration for Steven Soderberg unimpressive to them. How did they know what I couldn't even imagine?
When Cloony and the cow were in bed and she said "I just want to see how this turns out.," I stood up and said aloud to the theater, "I DONT!" and walked out.
Now THAT'S good drama.
News from Home (1976)
An entrancing art piece.
If you've ever wanted to just stand in front of a painting and stare at it, this is your chance. Or, alternately, like a whole gallery of your favorite artist for you spend an hour and a half studying their pieces.
"News From Home" gives you that chance. It isn't a movie for the average viewer, or even the average museum goer. It's introspective, spellbinding and gorgeous, given a chance. I loaned it to a friend and suggested he "let yourself go" while watching it, and he reported "it turned into magic once I let it flow through me."
If you want things that blow up, swear words, and sex, you are in the way wrong place sister. This is one of the best art films I have ever seen, without all that inaccesible interiority of so many other "art" film makers.
It's more like a personal documentary, which sounds impossible to pull off doesn't it? Well, Derek Jarman's "Blue" pales to this private gallery of scenery and emotion, which makes "News" far advanced, cuz "Blue" is my fave of his.
Chop Suey (2001)
a busy, lush, forgivable vanity project.
This is a lush and sometimes loud film by the photographer who brings you the A&F catalogue every 3 months, Bruce Weber. His previous subjects were the jazz "great" (my own anti-jazz bias) Chet Baker and the obscure if not downright lost film "Backyard Movies" that I've lusted after since seeing it one bleary night in Minneapolis, when, 1992?
Mr. Weber's unerring eye for beauty and culture are pleasantly shared, as is his fantastic photo collection, his historic archival footage with the likes of Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue magazine, the slacker surfing champions that are "Nixon's Neighbors," an obscure English adventurer, and his own personal and professional anecdotes.
And, oh yeah, he shares Peter Johnson with us. (A man/boy with two names for "penis," though that cheap joke shortchanges his phenomenal looks and carriage.) Mr. Johnson is alternately the direct subject and the audience for the stories in Chop Suey.
The book "Chop Suey Club," already a collector's item, is so obviously a labor of love, and the movie lets us in on some of Peter Johnson's allure and charm. Still, Johnson is not exactly a presence to be reckoned with, though his modeling is clearly in the heart-stopping/stellar range. It's slightly embarrassing to watch the young Wisconsin father sit through old stories told by aging queens, until he whips out the atrocious aplomb apparent in his still photos by dancing with a big black poodle.
Mr. Weber practically comes right out with his infatuation for Peter Johnson, telling the story of a parallel gay editor/straight model relationship, "...nobody loved you better." Then in the narrative, "...sometimes we photograph what we're afraid we missed." "Chop Suey" wants to keep history alive while extolling keeping history alive; as told through a survivor in a 31 year lesbian partnership, "I thought I lost my best friend, but I have all these photos and memories and she's still with me. That's the way it's supposed to be."
I longed for quiet in some of the more lyrically poetic image sequences. I thought the underwater shots of swimming dogs and boys in gowns, or the boys sleepy in the back seat of a car, black and white film stock creamy, movement slowed to a languid, trippy pace, invited a more sparce aural accompaniment, images lingering slightly longer.
I would give this film a full ten out of ten if it didn't feel so much like a vanity project. A generous vanity project to be sure, but still, I tend to feel somehow duped or guilty if I overly enjoy watching such blatant narcissism.
I saw it 3 times.
Sexy Beast (2000)
Strangely compelling, brilliantly paced.
This is not a "big" movie, but it does amazing things with what it has. The acting is superb, the action just edgy enough, and the soundtrack moves things along when the story calls for it.
I like a movie that you lean into, and this story has qualities that keep you interested, and unless you are a typical wasted USA blockbuster movie "lover," the pace will refresh and hook you.
I'm a big fan of pretty additions to movies too, and the pool boy/family friend adds a sublime touch of youthful beauty and vulnerability to remind you that the main characters are quite past all that. One of the best movies I saw that year.