Movie Monday
Catching up somewhat, with six movies today. The lone documentary (Terror's Advocate) was disappointing, but I was blown away by The Last King of Scotland.
Juno: 4 1/2 stars. I expected to like it, but I was also prepared not to, since pretty much everyone I knew had liked it. I hate having high expectations for a movie (remember Matrix 2? Yeah.) But I really liked it. The entire cast was wonderful. In particular Jennifer Garner, who I hadn't really seen and didn't really care for for no particular reason. After this movie, I really appreciate her. She, along with everyone else, made everything feel so real. Not that there are many teenagers like Juno out there in the world. And it's obvious at the end that it was all basically a fairy tale, but I hope that young impressionable girls didn't get the wrong idea. Anyway, I cried, I laughed, I really liked it.
Big Deal on Madonna Street: 3 stars. Funny but not as funny as I expected. It's supposed to be a spoof of Rififi, which I really liked. I don't know what I anticipated, but it was different enough that I might have liked it more had I known the plot details ahead of time, or if I understood Italian. Part of it is not knowing if laughing at it means you are laughing at Italian culture - how much is it spoofing the movie Rififi and how much is it spoofing Italians? Satirizing, I suppose, not spoofing. And as a non-Italian, can I laugh at that? Although, as with everything, there are truths behind stereotypes. There was one line in particular I loved: the decided "No" in response to teh question "Is it practical?", coming after all the time spent explaining how it would work (the water method in the safe). It was enjoyable - I think it might benefit from a rewatch. (Italian)
Wedding Crashers. 4 stars. Obviously I don't go to the movie theater much, since I'm just seeing this in 2008. I kept thinking about Owen Wilson's suicide attempt watching this movie, which kind of took away from the lightheartedness of the movie. But it was a silly, fun movie. I think I watched the theater version - I expect that the unrated one had more boobs. If I were in a certain kind of mood, this movie might depress me, but in another mood (the one I was in), it was entertaining. Isla Fisher was cute.
The Darjeeling Limited. 3 stars. This was a pleasant but kind of boring movie. Adjectives I wrote down to describe it at the time: dreamy, listless, directionless, random, gentle. One thing I was enjoyably surprised by was how well Adrien Brody fit into the otherwise cast of usual suspects in a Wes Anderson movie. The scene with the young boy's family in India was very moving. I would like to see Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbaugh switch scripts and direct each other's movies. It would be interesting - they have similar sensibilities, but extremely different approaches. Imagine Wes Anderson directing Margot at the Wedding. Or Noah Baumbaugh directing this one. Overall, good but not great. Visually interesting, though, of course. I think it would be hard for any movie in India not to be visually stimulating.
Terror's Advocate: 2 stars. A documentary about a lawyer, Jacques Vergès, who's primarily worked as an advocate for terror suspects. Here's the description from IMDB, since it's been a while since I saw this: "An examination of the career of Jacques Vergès (1925-), attorney for members of Algeria's FLN, Palestine's FPLP, the Khmer Rouge, Carlos and associates, Klaus Barbie, and other revolutionaries and outcasts. Archival footage, news articles, and photographs mix with contemporary interviews of Vergès, friends, associates, and historians. Connections with Nazis are explored, as well as Vergès's marriage to Djamila Bouhared, his courtroom methods, his disappearance from 1970 to 1978, and the roots of his radicalism. Throughout, Vergès remains playful and charming, with a soupçon of arrogance. The film suggests Vergès's anti-colonial nature is at his center. Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}." It was surprisingly dull for what seemed like a fascinating topic. It was quite shallow overall, although deeper in some areas than others (it was fairly good re: Algeria and provided an interesting complement to The Battle for Algiers. I suspect that a movie about him would be more interesting after his death because some of his activities during his 8 year disappearance might be explained then. Overall, interesting, but not hugely so. Perhaps it would be have been more interesting if I were French. (French)
The Last King of Scotland. 5 stars. Wow. This movie was amazing. Forest Whitaker was genuinely frightening as Idi Amin. In real life, he strikes me as a gentle person, but he was completely believable as the charismatic and frightening dictator here. Mercurial and paranoid, only growing more so with more power. It was a fascinating examination of that old saying "power corrupts - absolute power corrupts absolutely". And James McAvoy's character learns that firsthand, doesn't he. I wonder how close to the truth this movie was. It all seemed completely believable, and deepened my admiration of McAvoy. A really great, if unsettling movie - highly recommend it.
Happy Labor Day to those in the states, and wishes for safety to those in the path of Hurricane Gustav.
Happy Labor Day to those in the states, and wishes for safety to those in the path of Hurricane Gustav.