Reviews

*** SPOILERS x3 ***Boogie Nights was a good movie, but as I tell my friends (who reluctantly agree), if it weren't about porn, you wouldn't have given a damn. It wandered, and its cast sprawled. But it had flashes of absolute genius - hell, the whole porn industry setting was genius.

Then there was that thing called Magnolia. Boogie Nights without the genius. A very large cast of uninteresting characters, each one of whom has gotten the shaft in life, and are just looking for redemption. It's the classic redemption plot, just across like eight characters instead of one. Eight boring characters (ok, the cop was kind of amusing), each one suffering from overacting. And it was LONNNNNGG, sprawling and full of garbage time.

I knew I was in for something at least decent with Punch Drunk Love. A quick glance at the DVD case indicated it was a 95 minute movie. From this writer/director, that in itself was enough to pique my curiosity. Then, as it unfolded, I realized that this whole thing was a two-character movie (really one and a half, as Emily Watson's character is far less dealt with than Sandler). It's just a funny, quirky movie about one lonely, misunderstood guy and his means of finding his "fit" in life. All of his unexplainable "freak-outs," his loneliness, his mild dishonesty; they all find a resolution in this gem.

The soundtrack is annoying, but that is its purpose, so I'll let that slide. The film is beautifully shot in the San Fernando Valley (and Waikiki).

Recommended, particularly if you felt let down by the length of the PTA's other two movies.

I am a huge fan of the first film in this series, yet I felt that this

movie simply took itself for granted. Yes, the special effects were

nifty, although I was underwhelmed by Golem, and the sound

effects were far less inventive than in the first installment.

The dialogue was painfully hokey: there are far too many instances

of people taking the most inappropriate time to utter some

medieval-movie cliche (10,000 orcs descending upon you and the

king whispers, "So it begins" ?!). There are lots of sweeping zoom

shots on our heroes, yet they don't do anything really heroic!

Frodo's story is dull, and Sam turns into a cheap speechmaker.

Golem is an awful little ball of bipolar disorder. Legolas and the

dwarf (name escapes me) spend too much time spewing out

cheap backslappy lines, and not enough time letting the audience

understand the danger they're in.

The first movie demonstrated that it is possible to stray very far

from a book and still make a terrific movie. This one strayed just

as far from its source and really turned out quite bad. It really feels

like they turned over the screenwriting duties to a pimply-faced

15-year-old Star Trek fan. Don't believe the hype!

I have heard this film compared to The Godfather. I honestly don't

see filmmakers ten years from now questing to make "an heir to

The Road to Perdition."

It's a beautifully shot movie, full of wonderful acting and terrific

sound. But I saw the ending coming a mile away, and I'm normally

really bad at predicting endings (a director's dream audience).

How could you not expect, once Hanks and his son set off on their

journey, that Hanks will end up dead in the end? The annoying

bookend narration lets this "surprise" out early.

Also, the movie wore its spiritual message on its sleeve, instead

of making it more a part of the film. How convenient that the final

destination is a town named "Perdition," huh?

See it, but for God's sake don't glorify it.

Brilliantly shot, edited, paced. The actors functioned well as an ensemble, though Clooney is clearly in a class by himself.

Two beefs. The first minor one, Julia Roberts did not carry the weight necessary for her role. She's supposed to be the great unattainable prize, and she's just too folksy and plain jane for this role. Many consider her glamorous, I consider her equine.

My main problem with this film is the complete lack of obstacles our protagonists face. Sure, they are foiled by the power grid scenario, but within TEN SECONDS Don Cheadle's character has the solution. Yes, Matt Damon almost gets stuck at the University lab, but the two guards give lame pursuit, and nobody cares to call the cops when the multimillion dollar piece of gear is carted off. Perhaps you could consider it an obstacle that the gymnast gets his hand stuck, but realize that he could have blown up with the door and it wouldn't have screwed up the plan any. Or when Saul is nearly recognized...but nothing ever comes of it. Very lame.

No, our eleven heroes waltz in, are in control the ENTIRE time, and even when it seems they are foiled, they had the double-dupe planned all along. I was miffed that the only conflict in this film is not with the characters and their circumstances, but with the audience and a lack of information. There is the weak illusion of a challenge only because we weren't told what all of the eleven knew regarding the plan. It really would have been great to see Andy Garcia's character throw them a serious curve, but Soderbergh just lets him play right into their hands. That is really cheap.

As an aside, I saw this in digital projection and nearly wet my pants at how good it was. Great color, no pixellation, no dirt, and sharp, sharp, sharp!

(SPOILERS)

A really great "buddy" movie, obviously heir to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." I believed nearly all of it: why they fled instead of going to the cops (this comes out over the course of the film), and why things were escalating the way they were. All of the actions taken by T & L were directly related to the changing of their characters.

Two complaints: First, I did not buy Louise's final phone call to the police. She knew the phone was tapped; even if she HAD to call to settle in her mind the question of how severe the situation was, she did not seem to be urgent at all. This and the whole bit with the obnoxious fuel trucker just seemed like useless flag-waving for feminism. I am quite convinced that, even with the changes these two were going through, once J.D. had taken the money, or perhaps once Thelma had robbed the store, these two would have had a serious tete-a-tete and established that they needed to lay low and get serious about fleeing. What actually happens is they seem to dilly-dally even more. I found that frustrating.

Secondly, although I prefer the ending they had over the alternate ending, it was a bit of a rip-off of Butch Cassidy.