reviews
Short Notes on: The Bourne Supremacy * Broadway: The Golden Age *
Catwoman * Collateral * Latter Days * Open Water * Spider-Man 2 *
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring * Two Brothers *
Summer Leftovers |
Boy, you are really persistent. These are not the reviews you're looking for. They are but measly capsules or worse yet... tiny takes on previously viewed films. I've tried karaoke, politics, haiku, mother fixations, and dramatic / comedic roundups but the only way I'm ever getting caught up is to just say it all in a five sentences or less.
The Bourne Supremacy (*spoilers below*)
1 How about those action sequences, huh?
2 As for the drama, thank that well assembled cast for the easy to follow emotional arcs within the nearly incomprehensible plot.
3 Aside from Matt Damon (born to play Bourne) and Joan Allen, both of whom can always be counted out to flesh out their characters superbly, the real stars here are within the production team.
4 Best in show honors to the director Paul Greengrass and his editors, Richard Pearson and Christopher Rouse who keep the action jumping, keep the drama taut, and keep the large cast and keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
5. Too bad they kill of one of their great actorly assetts (Franka Potente) and give a lesser character (Brian Cox) too much scenery chewing time.
B+/B (always vacillating between the two)Broadway: The Golden Age
1 First of all, if you've heard that this is a must-see if you love theater, you heard correctly --Go see it.
2 Given the amount of long in the tooth stage stars collected for their "talking head" moment and footage discovered that was long thought impossible to ever see, this film will only get more valuable over the years as a time capsule.
3 All that said, for such a celebration it doesn't provide much hope or optimism about theater (to be fair it explicity states that its focus is narrow) and it isn't carefully structured in the way of truly great documentaries.
4 But there are abundant pleasures for theater fans and enough entertaining moments/stories to probably please non-theater buffs as well.
BCatwoman
1 It is hard to discern actually, what sucks the most in the movie...
__a) the script -a bloated and uninteresting mess of stock characters, recycled pointless origin stories, and boring corporate villainry?
__b) the waste of all of these potentially intriguing items: Gotham city mythology, the return of Sharon Stone, Halle Berry's body?
__c) the nonsensical editing to cover up bad performances, bad CGI, and poorly choreographed fight scenes?
or (ding ding ding)
__d) Berry's blatant but unsuccessful ripoff of one of the great performances of the 90s (That'd be Pfeiffer's Catwoman thank you very much) even though she's not technically playing the same character (Create your own damnit!) ?
2 It's easy to blame everyone but the much fawned over star, but in this case, Catwoman is just further evidence that Halle Berry just isn't that interesting or creative as an actress.
3 "The star has a great rack!" seems to be the rallying cry/raison d'etre of the film.
4 If that's the best one can say for a movie it better be a porno!
D
Collateral
1 Like The Bourne Supremacy, this is about the best it could be for what it is.
2 Never one to phone it in, Michael Mann significantly elevates Collateral above its genres --it's not only a cop drama, more than a noir, and quite a lot more than an acting showcase (though it is certainly that with two compelling leads and a few vivid supporting cameos to boot)
3 Yet I feel there's something --just a little something --missing.
4 Could it be that its themes/dialogues are too on the nose to feel more than faux-deep?
5 Whatever. Take this dark and compelling ride through one violent Los Angeles night.
B
Latter Days
1 This film tells a rather unique, unexpected love story between a West Hollywood party boy and a closeted gay Mormon missionary.
2 It is just good enough that you wish it weren't so clumsy in plotting.
3 It's over long, tangent-filled, and could have used more polishing.
4 It feels like a rough draft.
5 But still...you have to give it points for its very accurate snapshot of the frat-boy atmosphere of Mormon missionary apartments and the toll Mormonism takes on its gay members (both of which are things that could have only been told by someone from the inside.)
C+
Open Water
1 If you go in expecting a scary jump out of your seat horror movie you will undoubtedly hate it just as you may have hated The Blair Witch Project.
2 Unless, like me, you dig psychological terror more than splatter fright fests.
3 For what it is (the former sort of horror movie) this tale of a married couple lost in the ocean is effective.
4 You can see the padding --slightly pushing its luck even at 79 minutes-- but it doesn't detract much from the mounting existential dread that the film expertly slow builds over the course of the running time.
5 Open Water is a surprising success in miniature.
B-
Spider-Man 2
1 This is how you make superhero movies.
2 You take a beloved iconic character, stay true to the essentials, and hire (or in this case keep) stars who can stylize and still feel human and a director who understands the joy, color, rhythyms, morality, and simplicity of a great comic book.
3 This sequel is even better than the first which is saying quite a lot.
4 I think it's the best superhero film ever made
5 And I hope Spider-Man 3 is even better.
A-
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter,...and Spring
1 Spring) This movie is beautiful to look at.
2 Summer) ...er, make that ravishing or hypnotic.
3 Fall) This movie --well, it's easy to see where it's going but it's still pretty profound in its message.
4 Winter) This movie is great.
5 and...Spring) If you haven't seen this yet, you're crazy.
A-
Two Brothers
1 Gee, aren't those tigers cute?
2 Ummm, when did Guy Pearce get so boring?
3 Family audiences might really love this if the humans were as interesting as the cats.
4 Awww, look the tigers are being cute again!
C+
All reviews and commentary by Nathaniel R.
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