12.4.04
Monday Movie Roundup
Last week, I saw a lot of movies. Here's what I think of them.
Hellboy: As I've noted already, I think Hellboy is great - the best comic book adaptation to the big screen, in my mind, since Batman (the first one, at the very least, and I might add the unfairly-maligned second film, as well). And I really liked both Spiderman and X-Men 2, but found Hellboy to simply be a very compelling film. Again - see it, if you haven't yet.
The Ladykillers: The first thing I noticed about this film, some months back when the first commercials started, was that there was no mention of it being a Coen bros. film - it was, in fact, being marketed as a slapstick racial farce. Which it really isn't - there's a little physical slapstick, but most of the humour is an affected scatalogical slapstick and/or Tom Hanks' bizarreness. I had heard very mixed things about the film going into the theater, but left satisfied. More than satisfied, actually - I left having thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and thinking that I needed to see it again just to try to understand the particular ways in which the Coen bros. were fucking with me that I didn't pick up the first time.
I'll probably pick up on this again later, but every time I see another Coen bros. film I am struck by their ability to translate American vernacular understanding of human foibles onto the big screen. They're not intellectuals, and don't wrestle with big ideas or struggle for "authenticity" - they just get it somehow.
Monsieur Ibrahim: I won't say much, except to say that this is a very good way to spend two hours. It's a movie that genuinely takes its time - and that's not a euphemistic way of saying it's slow.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: A little late to the game in seeing it, I know, but really it's just an amazing film. Beautiful, touching, human, well-acted, and never lets go of you. Immediate entrant into "One of the best films I've ever seen" pantheon.
Also, I saw Slackers (plural, not the Linklater one) again on TV the other night. A really, truly creepy and funny movie. Good rental.
Hellboy: As I've noted already, I think Hellboy is great - the best comic book adaptation to the big screen, in my mind, since Batman (the first one, at the very least, and I might add the unfairly-maligned second film, as well). And I really liked both Spiderman and X-Men 2, but found Hellboy to simply be a very compelling film. Again - see it, if you haven't yet.
The Ladykillers: The first thing I noticed about this film, some months back when the first commercials started, was that there was no mention of it being a Coen bros. film - it was, in fact, being marketed as a slapstick racial farce. Which it really isn't - there's a little physical slapstick, but most of the humour is an affected scatalogical slapstick and/or Tom Hanks' bizarreness. I had heard very mixed things about the film going into the theater, but left satisfied. More than satisfied, actually - I left having thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and thinking that I needed to see it again just to try to understand the particular ways in which the Coen bros. were fucking with me that I didn't pick up the first time.
I'll probably pick up on this again later, but every time I see another Coen bros. film I am struck by their ability to translate American vernacular understanding of human foibles onto the big screen. They're not intellectuals, and don't wrestle with big ideas or struggle for "authenticity" - they just get it somehow.
Monsieur Ibrahim: I won't say much, except to say that this is a very good way to spend two hours. It's a movie that genuinely takes its time - and that's not a euphemistic way of saying it's slow.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: A little late to the game in seeing it, I know, but really it's just an amazing film. Beautiful, touching, human, well-acted, and never lets go of you. Immediate entrant into "One of the best films I've ever seen" pantheon.
Also, I saw Slackers (plural, not the Linklater one) again on TV the other night. A really, truly creepy and funny movie. Good rental.
perma-linky posted by jkd : 14:34
