As I’ve mentioned before, my wife and I tend to see almost all our movies in the period between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, roughly corresponding to “awards season” in the entertainment industry (a business in which my wife is at least occasionally immersed). I’m not done seeing all the nominees, so I’m not ready to do a top ten list, but so far can say that “Milk”, “The Wrestler”, and “Last Chance Harvey”, three utterly different films, are my favorites of the year so far.
I was moderately disappointed in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; moderately pleased by “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Doubt”; delighted by “Gran Torino” and, just today, absolutely appalled by “Revolutionary Road”. Other than lovely costume design (look, another green lounge shirt!), the Sam Mendes film didn’t work for me at all. (I admit to not having liked the novel when I read it years ago in a seminar.) I still need to see “The Reader”, “Frost/Nixon”, and “Rachel Getting Married.”
What have you liked? What else do I need to see? Disagree with me about the awfulness of “Revolutionary Road”? Share in the comments section at your leisure.
I too, was not fond of …Benjamin Button. But after watching The Critics Choice Awards the other night, I am pretty convinced that Slumdog Millionaire might be the one to beat this year. I still haven’t seen it, but I definitely want to. I must admit, I am a little disappointed of your review of Revolutionary Road, because I’ve been a huge fan of Sam Mendes for a very long time-and I was super excited for the reunion of Winslet/DiCaprio. But you are not the first person to say they did not like the film. And that saddens me, because I really do want to see it. However, I feel that perhaps my money will be put to better use seeing something else. Oh well. I’m just happy that we have an awards season this year worthy enough of a discussion.
Well, it is always a season for discussion! But I haven’t so far seen a movie that took my breath away, the sort I wanted everyone to see, like “Lost in Translation” or “No Country for Old Men” or “Pan’s Labyrinth”, my three favorite films of the past half-decade or so.
Enjoy going to the cinema pre-baby – it’ll be a while before you have the freedom afterwards. (there are always DVD’s – a fantastic gift for breastfeeding mothers for those long night feeds!)
Anyway, I just saw a lovely curate’s egg of a film – it’s called ‘Dean Spanley’ and stars Peter O’Toole. I was doubtful during the first 15 minutes or so but got completly hooked and was in buckets of tears by the end.
This year one of my favorite’s was the animated film ‘Persepolis’ – so moving and honest.
I don’t see a lot of movies, but “Dean Spanley” rings a bell–it is also the name of a Lord Dunsany story about a man who shared the memories of a dog, and it was pretty good even though I am a cat person.
I liked “Wall-E”–I wished that both robots could have been square, but then I realized that the flying one had to be aerodynamic. What I had the real problem with was that the oversoftened people on the starship were all shown as real fat. In actuality, some might just be shriveled up, and some might be compulsive or still-healthy exercisers using an onboard running track, etc. I once read an sf story about a ship powered by runners, but I forgot by whom.
I have to wait for the library to get dvd’s–prefer these to the theater because you can go to the bathroom whenever you want. I was tempted to see “Pan’s Labyrinth” because I am a Machen fan, but I didn’t because violence squicks me out.
After not going to the movies at all for about six months, I went to three last weekend, while visiting my family.
* Valkyrie – I was expecting a dumb action movie about Tom Cruise trying to kill Hitler. The reviews I read before going were mostly disappointing, but I think this is because the critics expected an action movie. Valkyrie is actually more of a political thriller — think Tom Clancy, but with better politics. (Tom Cruise is trying to kill Hitler, not `terrorists’, after all.) Roger Ebert gave this 3 out of 4 stars, and I think that sounds about right. It’s enjoyable as such, but nothing deep.
(spoilers for Slumdog Millionaire below)
* Slumdog Millionaire – This came highly recommended from about everyone in the world, but I walked out of the theater with a bitter taste in my mouth. Yes, the first half of the movie was a moving portrayal of the living hell that is growing up an orphan in the slums. But I’ve read my Dickens and Amartya Sen, so all that was old news to me. The problems started in the second half, where the ultimate message was that love/fate/destiny/family/whatever will triumph in the end. Things got worse when I realised that at no point in the film had Jamal ever exercised any kind of agency. He never made long-term plans, or tried to realise some complicated, multi-step project; everything he did was just a matter of passively taking up whatever opportunity presented itself at that exact moment, and getting lucky. This makes Slumdog Millionaire a contemporary, Indian version of Oliver Twist — and I always disliked Oliver Twist in exactly the same way.
(end spoilers)
* Doubt – Films based on plays tend to be either very, very good, or an unfortunate failure of the director to recognise the differences in the two media. This is the former. Everything revolves around the acting of Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and both are excellent.
I was slightly disappointed by Doubt. I thought that the movie progressed well, but its ending was a bit too ambiguous. There was something off about the priest, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. He indulged in his appetite and he didn’t seem very pious at all. I also didn’t get what was with his long fingernails. It wasn’t until after the movie that I started to piece things together, like how one of the more disruptive schoolboys (that was not the black student) was a target for him. Still, there wasn’t enough closure at the end for me. The acting was good, and I think Meryl Streep will win an award for it.
Bitten Apple, I took the ambiguity to clearly be part of the point: like Sister Aloysius (sp), we ultimately don’t have evidence one way or the other, just suspicions and a feeling that something isn’t right.
Also, I thought most of the facts you point out — the lack of piety, the rich food and wine in the dinner scene, the long fingernails — were simply to identify him as `modern’ or progressive, as opposed to the conservative or traditionalistic Sister Aloysius.
loved:
slumdog millionaire
liked:
milk
rachel getting married
valkyrie
gran torino
marley and me
disappointed:
benjamin button
hated:
australia
synedoche, new york
and I don’t think I could stand to see the trailer to Revolutionary Road one more time.
I just saw “Rachel Getting Married” and really liked it. It captures perfectly how I often feel at parties.
How could I have forgotton – the best documentary of the year ‘Man on the Wire’.
Extraordinary!!
Why didn’t you like Revolution Road?
Bill, it had all of the flaws of “American Beauty” and none of its virtues. The characters were unbelievable, unsympathetic, and exasperating — the acting was fine but the script was leaden.
Gran Torino was problematic for me- I enjoyed it, but as a minority, I am sick of the white man saving the minority theme that seems to be so common in western cinema.
in fact, I have a note up about Grand Torino on FB.
I haven’t seen a lot of films until recently. I rarely do anymore. Some of the films that stand out are I’ve Loved You For So Long (it was subtitled, which I didn’t know), but that didn’t detract from the story or acting, especially, Kristin Scott Thomas. I also liked Appaloosa with Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger. I thought the acting between Harris and Mortensen nuanced and subtle. I also thought Doubt good and enjoyed Benjamin Button. There are a few others I’d like to see…
I highly recommend Dean Spanley – an absolute delight, intelligent and warm with great performances from Jeremy Northam, Peter O’Toole and Sam Neill
Saw “I’ve Loved You for So Long” and found it quietly alluring but absolutely adored “Dean Spanley” and ALL the cast.
The Visitor ( Richard Jenkins) was one I thought would be really good but found it mediocre at best.