picoreviews
Picoreviews for The Aviator, Josie & the Pussycats, Crash, Lackawanna Blues, There's No Business Like Show Business, Strictly Ballroom, Titan AE, Donnie Darko
The Aviator: I got this because Cate Blanchett is supposed to be wonderful as Katharine Hepburn. Having only seen Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? I have no way to really judge if Blanchett was wonderful, but she seemed pretty Hepburn-like to me. DiCaprio was good enough to be uncomfortable to watch at times, so I'd say overall it was worth watching.
Josie & the Pussycats: A re-watch. Just as howlingly funny as the other couple times I've seen it. :)
Crash: My, how very sheltered I am. It's more or less unfathomable to me that people can act like that; racism to that degree seems like caricature to me. A very, very good movie. Surprisingly, even one I would watch again; often very good movies (like, say, Born on the 4th of July) are not things I need or want to see more than once. This one I'd be willing to watch again.
Lackawanna Blues: This movie's *only* flaw was that it was a Showtime or HBO thing, can't remember which, and so S. Epatha Merkerson (best known as the Lieutenant on L&O) wasn't up for an Oscar. She was up for, and won, just about every other award known to the film industry, and wow did she deserve it. This was a much happier film than I expected it to be, and I *really* enjoyed it.
There's No Business Like Show Business: Irving Berlin. Marilyn Monroe. Ethel Merman. Donald O'Connor. How could you possibly go wrong? It turns out you can in fact go horribly horribly wrong. Start with not introducing Monroe's character for 25 minutes, then having her on screen for about 4 before returning to the interminable other characters. I fast-forwarded through a couple scenes, then couldn't take even *that* anymore and stopped watching it. I never stop watching movies. Gah!
Strictly Ballroom: Even if I hadn't known, I might've guessed that this was by the same guy who did Moulin Rouge. It was similarly frenetic, though it did seem like sort of a dress rehearsal for Moulin. I enjoyed it very much, though, and it made me all sniffly at the end. (I've gotten to be such a sop.)
Titan AE: Re-watch. I liked this just as much the second time, too, and not just because I want Akima's hair. :)
Donnie Darko: What a bizarre movie. I rented it because of its cult classic standing, and I pretty clearly don't belong to that cult. I wasn't especially interested in any of the characters except Donnie's girlfriend, although Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was very, very good, and the very end of the film (the denounment, rather than the climax) was extremely satisfying to me.
The Aviator: I got this because Cate Blanchett is supposed to be wonderful as Katharine Hepburn. Having only seen Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? I have no way to really judge if Blanchett was wonderful, but she seemed pretty Hepburn-like to me. DiCaprio was good enough to be uncomfortable to watch at times, so I'd say overall it was worth watching.
Josie & the Pussycats: A re-watch. Just as howlingly funny as the other couple times I've seen it. :)
Crash: My, how very sheltered I am. It's more or less unfathomable to me that people can act like that; racism to that degree seems like caricature to me. A very, very good movie. Surprisingly, even one I would watch again; often very good movies (like, say, Born on the 4th of July) are not things I need or want to see more than once. This one I'd be willing to watch again.
Lackawanna Blues: This movie's *only* flaw was that it was a Showtime or HBO thing, can't remember which, and so S. Epatha Merkerson (best known as the Lieutenant on L&O) wasn't up for an Oscar. She was up for, and won, just about every other award known to the film industry, and wow did she deserve it. This was a much happier film than I expected it to be, and I *really* enjoyed it.
There's No Business Like Show Business: Irving Berlin. Marilyn Monroe. Ethel Merman. Donald O'Connor. How could you possibly go wrong? It turns out you can in fact go horribly horribly wrong. Start with not introducing Monroe's character for 25 minutes, then having her on screen for about 4 before returning to the interminable other characters. I fast-forwarded through a couple scenes, then couldn't take even *that* anymore and stopped watching it. I never stop watching movies. Gah!
Strictly Ballroom: Even if I hadn't known, I might've guessed that this was by the same guy who did Moulin Rouge. It was similarly frenetic, though it did seem like sort of a dress rehearsal for Moulin. I enjoyed it very much, though, and it made me all sniffly at the end. (I've gotten to be such a sop.)
Titan AE: Re-watch. I liked this just as much the second time, too, and not just because I want Akima's hair. :)
Donnie Darko: What a bizarre movie. I rented it because of its cult classic standing, and I pretty clearly don't belong to that cult. I wasn't especially interested in any of the characters except Donnie's girlfriend, although Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was very, very good, and the very end of the film (the denounment, rather than the climax) was extremely satisfying to me.