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Reviews
The Three Musketeers (2011)
A story spoiled by the blind pursuit of visual effects. Do not encourage the makers of this movie by going to see it.
I feel a little sorry to be so critical of this movie, because I thought some of the performances were fine, especially Matthew McFadyen and Ray Stevenson. Alas, Logan Lerman and Milla Jovovich were rather unconvincing in their roles, sucking to varying degrees. While one or two of the 3D scenes worked very well, notably the duel on the top of Notre Dame, the 3D was at its most effective for the credits and some of the other on-screen text. While it did add to the movie, it did not add quite enough to compensate for the other downsides. In the end, the irony is that the movie used 3D technology to depict two dimensional characters.
Perhaps the best parts of the movie were the opening prologue and the early scenes in Paris; thereafter it was all downhill, with the hill getting steeper as the movie progressed. It was apparent that the scriptwriters had either read the book or seen some earlier Musketeer movies, but equally apparent that they had either not understood the story or had decided they knew better than Dumas. Making Buckingham the villain was very ill-judged, and they should have made better use of the Cardinal (and Waltz). Most of this I could have lived with, but what brought the whole edifice crashing down was the nonsensical video-game sequences, featuring ridiculous flying ships that flouted most of the laws of physics (Newtonian and Einsteinian). I think these annoyed me more than the horrendous CGI in the last Indiana Jones movie.
The really frustrating thing is that this could have been an entertaining film; it looked great and had a sound cast. It seemed to me that the director may either have been influenced by childhood over-exposure to the Teletubbies, or that the need to make use of 3D forced the story in a truly stupid direction. I suspect the latter is closer to the truth, and this is what killed 3D last time, i.e. letting the technology drive the script in increasingly bizarre directions.
It would be easier to forgive some of the movie's faults were its crime not so great, i.e. trashing one of the all-time classic adventure stories!
The Tree of Life (2011)
Just doesn't hit the target!
While this is a film with genuine and sincere intent, and one that also has some quite beautiful passages and fine acting, it falls so far short of the director's apparent intent that it could not possibly be judged a success. It comes across instead as rather empty and self-indulgent - how else can one explain the excessively long light shows and the almost comic half-told story of a rather odd looking dinosaur? More discipline and tighter editing could have improved this film enormously, and perhaps brought it closer to delivering the philosophical message the director was aiming for. While the depiction of small-town life was quite well done, I have seen it done just as well before, and I was not impressed by much of the cinematography - I actually thought it had a rather flat (more like video than film) look. I also found the story rather less moving than it should have been - it was just too stylised and, at times just plain odd, to be as moving as I would have liked it to be. Malick is a great director, but the critical acclaim for this film is reminiscent of The Emperor's New Clothes.
True Grit (2010)
Great to look at and well performed, but largely a slavish remake!
I look forward to Coen Brothers movies but this was something of a disappointment. Beautiful to look at, and with wonderful performances all round, especially from Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld, this should have been a film to savour, so why the overall negative impression? The problem is that the movie is almost entirely a line by line, scene by scene remake of the original, itself no more than an average western. This remake contributes some nice performances but adds nothing of consequence, except perhaps for an almost unpleasantly downbeat and unnecessary epilogue. Moreover, the original was played with far more humour and heart, leaving behind it a pleasant memory, not a bitter aftertaste. I am truly surprised that this movie has attracted so much critical acclaim and that it should even be in the running for the Academy Award for best picture.