The
One The
One It's so disappointing when a movie doesn't even try.
What makes The One even more disappointing is that it comes from
Glen Morgan and James Wong, the men behind "Millennium" and Final
Destination. They've showed they're capable of doing some pretty good
stuff. It's amazing that they'd come up with something so stale and without
imagination.
The movie is set in the present time, but across
multiple parallel universes (the "multiverse"). Travel between universes
is possible through the accurate forecasting of black hole induced wormholes,
but prohibited. We start in one of the parallel universes (we know this
because the cars look funny, the guns whir, and President Gore is speaking
on the television). A prisoner is being transferred when the escort is
ambushed. The killer is Yulaw (Jet Li). He's a cop gone bad who travels
from universe to universe killing himself. Apparently, when you kill one
of your selves, their energies get divvied up among the remaining selfs.
I saw this movie when it was called Highlander. I liked it much
better then.
Cut to our universe where two cops (Delroy Lindo
and Jason Statham) have tracked Yulaw. He's trying to kill his last remaining
self, LAPD officer Gabriel (Li). There's a fight at the hospital, which
leaves Gabriel's fellow officers thinking that Yulaw is Gabriel. This case
of mistaken identity could have easily been solved by questioning a lab
technician on the scene, but that would have been too difficult. It also
doesn't help that the two are wearing the exact same outfit.
There follows much chasing, which leads to the inevitable
final showdown. It takes place at the spot of the next wormhole appearance.
Wouldn't you just know it? It happens to be in an abandoned factory. There's
a new twist. Of course, this factory is full of machinery (with no one
to run it), including one piece of machinery so fake and out of place that
it has to at some point explode in a shower of sparks and spew flammable
liquid. Yulaw rips off his shirt so that we can tell the two apart, and
the fighting commences.
It wouldn't be so bad if just the story and Li's
acting were weak, but the action is actually pretty lame too. Yulaw has
undergone several quickenings...uh....I mean transfers of energy, so he's
got super reflexes. When he fights, we see it from his point of view, so
he's moving normal speed while everything around him moves cartoonishly
slow (and not very convincingly). I won't even speculate as to why he would
get into fist fights with normal people and actually get hit. Why should
I expect internally consistent logic from a movie that provides so little
else?
Grade: D
Monsters,
Inc. We've officially come to the point where cutting
edge animation no longer impresses; it has become expected. Monsters,
Inc. is the latest from the Pixar animation studios, and does nothing
to drop the ball from their previous efforts. This time around, it looks
like they got a new fur program. The furry characters in this movie have
each and every piece react realistically, and independent of one another
in a way that could only be done either by a computer, or a team of expendable
human animators who would be driven insane after working on half a second
of finished product.
Since I've become so blasé about the animation,
it's a good thing there's a strong story behind it all. Sully (John Goodman)
is the top scarer at Monsters, Inc. who collect the screams of children
to power the city of Monstropolis. Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) is Sully's
loud mouth assistant, responsible for setting up the doors which serve
as portals into the closets of the children and taking away the filled
canisters of screams. Times are tough, kids don't scare as easily any more
and the city faces a power shortage.
Monsters may scare children, but the monsters are
afraid of the children too. It is thought that human children are toxic,
with one touch enough to kill. So it's understandable that the place goes
a little crazy when a child slips through one of the doors. Sully becomes
attached to the child, so he and Mike hide her and try to return her home.
In the course of all of this, they uncover some sinister plans involving
Sully's chief rival Randall (Steve Buscemi).
If the quality of the animation has already become
old hat, one thing that is rapidly approaching old hat status is scripts
like this one. The film is G rated, but how many four year olds do you
know that head out to the movies on their own? Like just about all of Pixar's
out put (and unlike most of co-producer Disney's output) the parents aren't
going to be bored. Plenty of the jokes will zoom right over the children's
heads. There was some petty funny stuff, even for a jaded 28 year old like
myself.
Monsters, Inc. strikes the right balance in just about every
aspect of its story so that no one should be bored watching it, regardless
of their age.
Grade: A-
Donnie
Darko Oh goody, a movie I can't fully review without giving
away the ending. How fun.
All right, let's just say this much. Donnie Darko
(Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled high school kid. In his younger days, he
set fire to a house and as a result is now on medication and seeing a psychiatrist.
His parents are the well meaning type, who are maybe in a little over their
heads with Donnie. He seems closest with his older sister.
Donnie sees an apparition in the form of a giant
rabbit. He may be a hallucination, he may be a product of the meds, he
may actually be a giant rabbit from the future. This much is certain, he
tells Donnie that the world will end in 28 days (the morning after Halloween)
and lures him from his house just in time to save his life. Feeling he
owes the rabbit, Donnie listens to what he says and does what he tells
him to do. These tasks run from pranks to some serious felonies, involving,
among others, the gym teacher and the local self help guru (Patrick Swayze)
whose spell she has fallen under. For what by all accounts are some pretty
evil acts, the rabbit's orders actually do the town some good. Crime is
exposed. People are empowered. Donnie gets a girlfriend in Gretchen (Jena
Malone), a lonely, disenfranchised girl who is helped by Donnie's presence.
Then some pieces start to come together. Donnie
starts seeing gel like trails emanating from people around him. These turn
out to be time trails which show the next movements of people. He is given
a book about time travel from his science teacher (Noah Wyle) which it
turns out was written many years ago by a local woman nicknamed Grandma
Death because of her age and because all she ever does is circle back and
forth to her mailbox.
Here's where it starts to get tricky in not giving
away too much. Up to this point, some great atmosphere is established,
through both predominantly dark lighting and through a wildly appropriate
soundtrack of '80s music (the film is set in 1988). Gyllenhaal's Donnie
is a mass of questions. He's not a bad kid, but one you would always try
to keep an eye on. He wanders almost bemused by the whole experience.
The ending comes and with it, ostensibly, the answers
to at least some questions. But all the answers seem wrong. It's pretty
easy to guess that the rabbit is from the future, but when his identity
is revealed, his motivations are immediately questioned. It seemed to me
that his aims could have been better met by just leaving well enough alone.
All the tinkering he makes Donnie do doesn't make much sense either. This
is a pretty good movie that needed a much better ending.
Grade: B-
The
Man Who Wasn't There Ed (Billy Bob Thornton) is the man who wasn't there.
He's a hopelessly anonymous guy who works the second chair at the barber
shop and has no wish other than for his brother in law (Michael Badalucco)
who works the first chair to shut up every once in a while so he can have
some peace and quiet. But he never voices this wish. Thornton plays Ed
with an absolutely straight face, never showing even the slightest trace
of emotion. The most exciting thing he does is smoke his cigarette.
His wife Doris (Frances McDormand) works as the
accountant for Nerdlinger's department store. Her boss is the Nerdlinger's
daughter's husband Big Dave (James Gandolfini). He runs the place strictly
out of patronage. Ed is convinced they are having an affair. He sees a
way to capitalize on this when a shady entrepreneur offers him the chance
to open a dry cleaners, real cutting edge stuff at the time. Ed decides
to blackmail Big Dave, using the money to open the store. In great film
noir tradition, this one small act spirals out of control.
The blackmail leads to a murder where the wrong
person is blamed. Hot shot lawyer Freddy Riedenschneider (Tony Shaloub)
is brought in, and when presented with the real story, decides he can't
do anything with it, resorting to his own jury friendly story. Another
murder is committed, and again the wrong person is blamed. The crimes are
circular. All of the murderers and victims are rooted out, just in the
wrong combination.
The Man Who Wasn't There comes from the Coen
brothers (Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou, Blood Simple,
etc, etc, etc) and could be seen just as their own little twisted take
on the noir genre. I have a further crackpot theory. I think that we're
supposed to see the hand of fate just wanting to get Ed and get Ed good
for being so unemotional. We start out with a little setback which Ed doesn't
react to. Fate cranks things up a little bit, still no reaction. Fate goes
further, still nothing. Eventually fate gives up, and Ed wins, but maybe
not in the way he would want to.
Grade: B+
K-PAX K-PAX is your latest guy with a story that
may or may not be true movie. Prot (Kevin Spacey) is put in the psych ward
because he claims to be an alien and it's up to Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges)
to get to the bottom of things. Prot's story is that his civilization has
mastered faster than light travel by catching light beams. He's here just
to study and observe. He takes his whole confinement in stride, using the
time to help cure his fellow patients.
The movie is a tease. Face it, there are two outcomes.
Either he is an alien or he's insane. That's it. The first half of the
movie sets up the alien option by dropping little hints about Prot. He
is shown to have a sensitivity to ultraviolet light. His thorazine drip
has no effect. He shows some pretty advanced knowledge of astronomy. And
so on and so forth.
The second half of the movie shows Powell engaging
in some detective work (which uses that new movie cliché of the
all powerful internet, where you can hit a couple buttons and boom, you've
got the location of every slaughterhouse in America). The result of this
detective work is a trip to New Mexico where he becomes convinced that
Prot is human.
The ending is supposed to be one of those that inspires
discussion. You're supposed to not know exactly what happened, and argue
about all the way home. For me, the ending was pretty obvious, and it was
only because one part of the movie made its argument too well. It's a simple
application of Occam's razor. To believe one interpretation would require
some pretty wild coincidences. The other outcome can be explained directly
from the facts presented. I choose to go with the simplest possibility.
Grade: B
From
Hell If you would like to stretch your movie dollar, From
Hell is the movie for you. It has so many different movies jammed into
one package, they should charge triple admission price.
It is a slasher flick. Detective Abberline (Johnny
Depp) is investigating the murders of Jack The Ripper, who killed five
London prostitutes in 1888. Knives slash through the air, glinting in the
moonlight, and the foley guy gets to stab some watermelons to provide the
sound effects. The killer in this film was fond of removing organs from
the bodies of his victims. The dead bodies are never fully displayed, but
always seem to never be fully covered up.
It is a cop buddy film. Abberline has his Sergeant
Godley (Robbie Coltrane) who's there to drag him from opium dens, keep
him from attacking his superiors, and be the all around second banana.
It is a dumb horror flick. The victims know that
the worst thing they can do is split up. Each finds her own excuse to go
wandering off on their own, just in time to get killed.
It is a conspiracy story. Did you catch the Freemason
pin on the chief inspector's lapel? Did you see the Freemason insignia
on the case the killer took his knives from? I wonder if the Freemasons
have something to do with it. I wonder if this isn't a random killing spree
and there ends up being some sort of purpose behind it.
It is a Sherlock Holmes story. Abberline makes giant
leaps of deduction, given to him by psychic visions he has while smoking
opium.
It is a love story. Abberline falls for Mary Kelly
(Heather Graham) one of the prostitutes and, no doubt, future target of
the ripper.
It is a twist story. Hmmm....Abberline seems to
be focusing an awful lot on this one suspect, I wonder if it might just
be someone else.
It is, ultimately, a movie that doesn't quite fit
together. It's pretty and all, wonderful sets, nice atmosphere, a couple
of really cool establishing shots of a pollution fueled, blood red sky
over London. It seems to be lacking a soul as it just goes through the
motions. Including so many different movie types didn't help. Neither did
Johnny Depp who looked flat and uninterested most of the time.
Grade: C+
Shallow
Hal Young Hal (Jack Black) was told by his father, as
he lay on his death bed, to only date pretty girls, or he'd end up with
a woman like his mother. The grown up Hal has taken this advice to heart
and is about as shallow as they come. One day, while trapped in an elevator,
Tony Robbins (Tony Robbins) puts some sort of mind whammy on him where
he sees the inner beauty in everyone he sees. He thinks that Rosemary (Gwenyth
Paltrow) is the knock out girl of his dreams, she thinks he's making fun
of her. The relationship builds, much to the consternation of Hal's almost
as shallow friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander), until the mind whammy is
removed, and Hal goes back to the way he was before.
Watching Shallow Hal is an uncomfortable
experience. It is not uncomfortable because of the subject matter, it is
uncomfortable because we've all seen Dumb And Dumber or There's
Something About Mary, and we know what the Farrelly brothers are capable
of as far as gross out humor goes. Shallow Hal is not played for
laughs. There are some funny moments, mostly courtesy of Mauricio. The
main parts of the film are serious and full of Messages. The setup and
framework are there for another outrageous comedy, but seeing the film
makes the setup seem like a bait and switch. I felt like I was watching
an apology by two men seriously ashamed of what they had done before.
Grade: C
Jeff's Film School:
Postulate: Rosemary was only named Rosemary so that the song "Love
Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" by The Edison Lighthouse could be played
over the closing credits. Discuss.
Amelie Audrey Tautou has the most impossibly large brown
eyes. She has a round face which is the embodiment of youthful innocence.
Her expression is as if she's being constantly bemused by some private
inner joke. As far as casting choices go, making her the title character
must have been as easy as falling off a log (check that - it was probably
much easier). I do not exaggerate when I say that I was looking forward
to seeing this film as much as I looked forward to any this year on the
strength of seeing the poster.
Amelie had a lonely childhood. Her mother died when
she was young. Her father, Raphael (Rufus) a doctor, never hugged her,
only touching her when he gave her a monthly examination. This contact
excited her so much, her heart would race, making
him think she had a weak heart. It's not that he didn't love her, he
just didn't know how to express his love.
Now in her early twenties, she leads an equally
lonely life, living by herself and working in a cafe. Amelie is introduced,
as are all of the characters, by a narrator who tells us what we need to
know about these people through a trivial set of likes and dislikes. He
tells us that she likes going to the movies (by herself of course). She
then turns to the camera and tells us she likes turning around and watching
others faces and doesn't like old movies where people don't watch the road
while driving. Her happiness comes vicariously.
She lives in a Paris that doesn't exist. It is a
place without crime or clutter, populated with colorful personalities,
any one of which would make a fascinating companion for an afternoon. It
is a completely romanticized version that, if it existed, would keep every
travel agent in Porsches and caviar for the rest of their natural lives.
One evening Amelie finds a box behind a tile in
her bathroom. It contains what are obviously childhood treasures from a
long time ago. She decides to return the box anonymously. Seeing the joy
on the owner's face, she realizes that there is something to this making
people happy business. Fueled by this initial success, she goes about making
people around her happy. Some are simple acts; an impromptu word picture
tour of a Paris street she gives a blind man. Some are more involved; she
sends her father's garden gnome on a tour of the world's sights with a
flight attendant friend to convince him to travel.
All the while, she ignores her own happiness. Her
lonely life has convinced her that the most noble thing is to make others
happy. In her mind, she probably sees herself as a lost cause. An opportunity
presents itself in Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz). He works at a porn shop and
also at a carnival. Neither seems to excite him. What does excite him is
his hobby of piecing together photographs discarded form photo booths.
The two would obviously be perfect for one another, but Amelie just can't
seem to allow it to happen.
Amelie is a movie that will put a smile on
even the most cynical and jaded of faces (trust me, I own such a face).
It is lighter than air (a fact which led to it being excluded from competition
in Cannes). It is an exercise in instant gratification (a fact which led
to it winning the audience awards at the Toronto, Edinburgh, and Chicago
film festivals). Whereas American romantic comedies (Serendipity
is a cousin) seem to think charm is enough, the French recognize that there
is still an element of craft involved. Here is a light, happy, charming,
wonderful, and still yet well made movie. And we are all the richer for
it.
Grade: A+
Maze I've said it before and I'll say it again. These
little star vanity projects almost never work out well. This time it's
"Northern Exposure" star Rob Morrow's turn to write, direct, and star in
a relationship triangle movie, giving him and his friends an opportunity
to Act.
Morrow is Lyle Maze (good thing he had that last
name so we had the opportunity for a title with double meaning), an artist
with Tourette Syndrome which, in Lyle, manifests itself through spluttering,
gurgling pops and clicks, and sudden, jerky movements. The Tourette's serves
little purpose other than to let Morrow to Act.
The other two legs of the triangle are Mike (Craig
Sheffer), a doctor always rushing off to volunteer somewhere. He spends
most of the movie in Burundi, sticking around beforehand long enough to
show that he's a selfish jerk.
Having Mike's baby is Callie (Laura Linney), a fashion
photographer who realizes that Mike is a jerk, but sticks around anyway.
She is one of the few people who can put up with Lyle, eventually falling
for him. She is torn between the two men, which is fortunate as it gives
her a chance to Act.
Movies like this are more annoying than anything
else. These fine actors don't look at all natural. It's an exercise. They're
Acting. The plot feels forced, just so its inhabitants can Act. There is
no joy in the project, just people doing it to prove that they can.
Grade: C
Chop
Suey Hey! What if I had achieved a measure of notoriety
in the arts field? I wonder, would they let me make a movie? If you're
photographer Bruce Weber, the answer is apparently yes.
Chop Suey is a schizophrenic word salad of
a movie. Photographs from his collection and personal life memories form
the film, as we jump back and forth between such diverse topics as singer
Francis Faye, explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, actor Jan-Michael Vincent,
a professional surfer, and a professional wrestler, among others. Rather
than a documentary of any one subject, it is more of a portrait of Weber's
meanderings. Rather than a movie, it is more of a pleasant afternoon's
diversion.
Grade: B
Va
Savoir Va Savoir is a French relationship drama.
It is a film requiring a pencil and a scorecard. It tells the story of
six people who, in that wonderful way they always seem to be in these kinds
of movies, have a weird six degrees of separation thing going on.
Let's begin:
Camille (Jeanne Balibar) is an actress in a play
directed by her husband Ugo (Sergio Castillito) who wants to find a lost
play by Boldini and is helped by Dominique (Helene De Fougerolles) whose
brother Arthur (Buno Todeschini) is having an affair with Sonia (Marianne
Basler) whose husband Pierre (Jacques Bonnaffe) is Camille's ex.
What makes this two-and-a-half hour movie so fascinating
is that we actually have time to see these people living their lives. Sure,
there's a big circle going on, mostly based on sex or love, but the movie
pauses and takes time for us to get to know these people. A movie this
long where every scene was about sex would become quickly tedious (scroll
down to my Sidewalks Of New York review). It's not a comedy (right
up until the final sequence, at least), but a picture of a period of time
in some interesting character's lives.
Grade: B+
Tape Tape is a project derailed by the acting of
one of its leads. As the film only has a grand total of three actors, this
is rather unfortunate. The action takes place entirely in a hotel room
(yup...it was based on a stage play).
The hotel room in question belongs to Vince (Ethan
Hawke - the guilty party mentioned above). He's a part time volunteer firefighter,
part time dug dealer, and a full time asshole. His stated reason for being
in town is to attend the Lansing Film Festival where his friend John (Robert
Sean Leonard) has a film playing. It turns out he's also in town to open
up some old wounds from high school, ten years prior, involving Amy (Uma
Thurman), who dated Vince, and later had sex with John.
The script isn't the greatest. It's a never ending
sequence of circular arguments, repeated questions, and bull headed stubbornness
for the sake of drama. Getting anybody to say anything of substance is
like pulling teeth. The final argument between Amy and John is particularly
exasperating. Vince convinces John that he raped Amy. Amy doesn't think
he did. Neither will believe the other.
Director Richard Linklater uses a digital video
camera here. This is the kind of project it is most suited for, a mostly
static shoot with no special effects or changes in light level, situations
which painfully showcase the medium's limitations. Small scenes of conversation
are its forte, where the director can easily get up close to the actors.
Linklater's excessive use of whip pans between two characters during important
speeches does wear a bit thin.
But then there's Ethan Hawke. He preens his way
through his character with a high pitched whine that sounds like fingernails
on a chalkboard. There's a difference between an unlikable character that
you can't sympathize with and an actor who you want to strangle every time
his character opens his mouth.
Grade: D+
Novocaine Novocaine is a dark comedy that really only
delivers on one of those words (hint: it's not "comedy"). There are killings,
blood, and bodies aplenty. So what if none of the wounds that supposedly
came from a shotgun at close range look nearly as gruesome as they would
be in reality, it's the thought that counts.
Frank Sangster (Steve Martin) is a dentist with
a pretty settled life. His practice is doing well, he's got a super efficient
office manager (Lynne Thigpen), and a great girlfriend (Laura Dern). Into
this happy little mix comes Susan (Helena Bonham Carter), a new patient
who asks for Demerol for the pain. This should make him suspicious, but
he gives her a prescription for five tablets anyway. The phone call from
the pharmacist asking why he prescribed fifty definitely makes him suspicious.
He should blow the whistle, but there's a complication, he's fallen for
her.
Two brothers enter the picture.
Harlan (Elias Koteas) is Frank's. He's the kind
of guy who's picture is next to the phase ne'er-do-well in the dictionary.
You never know when you'll see him, but it will always be because he wants
something.
Duane (Scott Caan) is Susan's. He's a man whose
capacity for violence far outstrips his capacity for intelligent thought.
He controls Susan, getting her to steal drugs, which he sells, disappearing
with the money for months at a time.
This movie wouldn't be so bad if it either a) delivered
some consistent laughs or b) didn't allow its plot to get in the way. The
office's drugs are stolen. Frank confronts Susan. Duane ends up dead and
the overwhelming evidence points to Frank who must clear himself while
staying one step ahead of the police. Every policeman is played as an absolute
comic buffoon, a misstep in a movie which plays fair by all of its other
characters.
The twists and turns come with their fair share
of holes, convenient coincidences, and improbabilities. You can spot most
of them if you watch the opening sequence which lovingly showcases each
and every clue in a so-obvious-and-out-of-place-you- know-it'll-come-into-play-later
fashion.
Grade: C+
Out
Cold I almost couldn't believe my eyes. It was actually
a local-kids-try-to-save-the-town-from-evil-developer movie. I thought
those were only made for TV or straight to video affairs that aired late
at night on basic cable stations. Imagine my surprise.
Two things worth mentioning:
1. Lee Majors as the evil developer steals the show.
While Majors was good, this is more a commentary on the show.
2. The romantic subplot was ripped off from Casablanca.
It wasn't a sly nod, it wasn't a tounge-in-cheek reference, it wasn't a
passing thing. Whole scenes and sections of dialogue were ripped straight
from Casablanca. It was either embarrassing or offensive, I haven't
decided which.
Grade: D-
Sidewalks
Of New York Since it covers much of the same ground, and since
I saw them so close to one another, Sidewalks Of New York begs comparison
to the French film Va Savoir a few reviews up from here. This is
another movie requiring a pencil and scorecard to keep the characters straight.
Let's begin:
Annie (Heather Graham) is a real estate agent married
to louse Griffin (Stanley Tucci) who is having an affair with Ashley (Brittany
Murphy), a college student who is being pursued romantically by Benjamin
(David Krumholtz) who has just gotten a divorce from Maria (Rosario Dawson)
who briefly dated Tommy (writer/director Edward Burns) who is looking for
an apartment (and a little bit more if you know what I mean) from Annie.
The film presents itself as a documentary, although
how it would know in the beginning to follow these six people is beyond
me. There's a shaky, handheld interview scene, followed by a scene of the
characters interacting in their normal lives. These "real life" scenes
also were occasionally of the shaky hand held variety, making me not quite
clear if they were part of the documentary, or if we were just supposed
to be a fly on the wall.
Once you get past the Woody Allen aspects of the
film (namely meeting the characters, figuring out their quirks, and deciding
who we're supposed ot like and not like), not much is left to hold interest.
Unlike Va Savoir, this movie is all about love and sex, there's
never an opportunity to get to know anything about the them other than
their sexual history, their thoughts on dating, and how other people are
treating them poorly. It was very hard to become all that attached to anybody.
Grade: C+
Harry
Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone Either you know the story already or you don't care
about the story, so I won't waste my time. I will point out that I find
that not liking a film based on how closely it stuck to the book makes
absolutely no sense to me. Hell, Roy Hobbs struck out at the end of the
book The Natural. I'm afraid that I'm going to be hearing a lot
of this specious argument when Lord Of The Rings comes out in a
couple of weeks.
What I will say is that I got the feeling that this
movie required too much knowledge of the book. In print, you can take as
long as you want giving backstory and setting up motivations. While this
is much harder to do in film, I felt that the movie did an especially poor
job of defining the characters around Harry (Daniel Radcliffe). I found
this especially to be so with the bad guys. Professor Snape (Alan Rickman)
comes across as little more than a mean teacher, sort of a kin to Fast
Times At Ridgemont High's Mr. Hand. When Harry and friends leap immediately
to the conclusion that Snape is the guilty party in the nefarious goings
on, the movie has yet to give us a good reason why he is such an obvious
suspect. Another example, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) is only there to be
a similarly aged foil. In the book, both have a history, Malfoy in particular
has good reason to be antagonistic not only to Harry but to his friend
Ron Weasley (Rupert Gint). Someone seeing the movie without having read
the book could very well be lost.
Harry's friends don't come through much better.
We get to know a little bit about Ron, a minimal amount about Hermione
(Emma Watson), and next to nothing about the rest of his compatriots.
Another small complaint. Having the rights to this
film is like having a license to print money. With that in mind, I expected
the effects to be better. The quidditch match and the troll that menaces
the school on Halloween night came across as effects that would have been
impressive maybe three or four years ago. I think that the money was there
that more could have been done.
Now that I've got all that off my chest, I will
admit that I liked the movie a lot. Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid and Alan
Rickman as Snape were perfect casting choices. None of the child actors
do anything to distract or detract from the movie. The story is top notch,
it comes from a wonderful book that would be pretty hard to mess up.
Grade: B
Spy
GameTom Bishop (Brad Pitt) rots in a Chinese prison while his CIA mentor, Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) simultaneously holds off his superiors by telling them about Bishop (scenes we see in flashback) and tries to free him, all during his last day on the job. It's a minor story, choppy and episodic, saved by the acting of Redford.
Gade: B-