Once again, I’ve been enjoying my online rentals this week, so I’ve seen a lot of stuff I missed out on in theatres last year and a couple of other stuff too. As usual there’s too much here to go into full reviews, so I thought I would try and break-it-down for you guys in this compact article.
The Pursuit of Happyness
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Sure it’s one dimensional but I disagree with those that are saying the message of the film is a little awkward and morally corrupt. I fail to see how the search for a job and to bring in money to feed your family and to survive is a story that offends anyone.
The beauty of the film is it’s precise storytelling and it’s superb and sutble direction from Gabriele Muccino who films Chris Gardner’s downfall into the barrels of society with care and he never goes for the obvious “sympathetic” narrative.
The film worked for me despite it’s conventional story. Will Smith deserved his Oscar nomination and if your not with him right at the very end, then you truly have a heart of ice.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
I really didn’t care much for this movie. The problem with a film about smell is that obviously we as an audience are unable to smell anything whilst we are watching the movie, so we have to go off the actors reactions. In Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Ben Whishaw fails to do anything with his character except looking vacant.
I could never feel the attraction he has to red-heads. I could never feel the no sense of smell he achieves when he is lying in caves. I felt nothing because he projected nothing.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a bland film, full of bland acting and little characterization. Dustin Hoffman has fun with a nice cameo (the only place the movie works actually) but although the narrative is humorous, the images are way too serious, so it never works on either funny or dramatic levels.
Ils (Them)
There’s become almost a movement in horror films these days to go for a “shock” situation where the tension of the film will be enough to entertain you. Is it enough in this French language horror?
Yes and no. There’s some great scenes of tension and the atmosphere that directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud create is exceptional at times but the story is extremely one-dimensional and the two lead characters are as wooden as my garden shed.
In the end, I found Ils to be a confusing film where it tried to be both a social satire and a genuinely scary horror movie, resulting in a film somewhere in the middle. It’s the same problem I had with the Australian film Wolf Creek last year. Oh and this movie has a terrible ending.
Romanzo Criminale
Romanzo Criminale tried to be an epic along the same lines as Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America but unfortunately for the Italian flick it can’t hold a handle to the great 1980’s gangster flick.
You know a lot of criticism that is put towards Leone’s 229 minute epic is that his ambition for the film was too large and the film was inherently slow. I disagree, the extra running time in Once Upon a Time in America gives you a superb idea of what every character is about but this Italian film never allows for these scenes of development.
Romanzo Criminale just chugs along showing you important events in Italian history, mostly political but frankly I couldn’t care less because the characters failed to draw me into their world.
I can’t recommended this film despite it’s ambition and classy direction.
Peter Pan
Every now and then my girlfriend requests a Disney flick to be put on my rental list, so I was kind enough to oblige this week.
Never cared much for the movie. Peter Pan is an annoying little child who is probably the most unlikable protagonist in the history of Walt Disney’s cinema. I truly believe Steven Spielberg’s version of Hook is far superior to this film in nearly every way.
I like the story of the movie but I don’t believe the film is exectued as deftly by Disney as other movies from that era like Alice in Wonderland or Cinderella.
