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Wryter47-1
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Talk of Angels (1998)
Did I watch the same movie?
The superficiality of this poor film is its main failing. The Spanish Civil War was not explained at all, much less its byzantine structure, and the whole thing looked to me like an early Disney movie in Technicolor.
The music was loud, overbearing, and trite. The bullfight stuff was sanitized, romanticized, and looked like some grade-schooler's idea of what a bullfight might be like. The commentary on the part of all the actors was juvenile and to me insufferable in its naiveté.
The romantic stuff was wooden, rote, and simply ghastly, as Maggie Smith might observe.
I know a lot about the SCW and Spain and this movie represented none of it. I have no idea what caused others here to think it good.
Message in a Bottle (1999)
Sailboats, storms, and basic seamanship
For me, this otherwise good film is just ruined at the end by the sailboats event. I hate to be so pedantic, but the fact is that every person who has ever sailed -- and especially someone like Kostner's character who grew up on the water -- would know some basic facts:
1. Never sail into bad weather. 2. Never sail into bad weather without wearing a life preserver, and without being tied to the boat with a line and a harness in case you fall overboard. 3. Never sail into bad weather on your own unless you're seriously crazy. 4. Never jump in the water to save someone unless you:
a) Are wearing a life preserver.
b) Have a life preserver or lifebuoy to throw to the victim as soon as you're close enough.
c) Take a line with you, holding it in your hand or tying it to yourself in some way, i.e., a quick-release harness.
That said, it's pretty obvious the movie -- and probably the book -- just wanted the Kostner character to drown. This he indeed accomplished, but the story would have been ruined, obviously, if it had shown proper, veteran behavior by an adult sailor.
Pooey. Wrecked the whole thing for me.
Twilight (1998)
Film Noir redux
Perhaps it's 'cause I'm pushing 65, but this film just grabbed me from the start. Besides the fact that all the key actors are "seniors," or almost, they got all my buttons pushed from the start. Having been an NYPD auxiliary for several years and getting to hang around with the "real" cops, I saw a lot of the cynical stuff but a surprising amount of "the real stuff" too. This film reflected that -- world-weary but hanging in there -- and within that framework it was interesting to see the plot develop. The whole mood of the film struck me as dead on, and I'm one who usually doesn't like many films. It struck me as exactly on par in the 90s with some of the best noir films of generations past. Nine and maybe even 10. Thanks.
Ray (2004)
An 80s Film in the 00s
Besides the superb portrayal of Ray Charles by Foxx, the film for me lacked a suitable degree of verisimilitude. The only way I can think to say it is that the black/white racial stuff as portrayed -- while of course "true" in the sense that it happened -- usually comes off as stereotyped and self-conscious. Having lived through a lot of those years in big cities during all the racial tensions, I guess I somehow expected a less obvious portrayal of the insidiousness of it all. Many of the encounters seemed too scripted, too pat, too predictable. I therefore must agree that the film seems to me to be more episodic than of a whole piece.