Jeff Carlson (.com)
Recent Movies
[Note: I see more movies than this, but I don't always get the time to write about them here.]
Thirteen Days
Very engrossing, without too much of the yelling associated with Serious Men Facing Serious Issues movies. As someone who knows little about the Cuban Missile Crisis (nukes in Cuba, Kennedy faced down USSR, nukes removed, disaster averted), it was interesting to see how basically inexperienced men deal with the very real threat of nuclear war. Kevin Costner's character says it best that no one knows how to proceed in such a situation, that there is no wise old man to help them through it. I'm sure liberties were taken for the sake of dramatization, but it's hard to imagine that the environment wasn't as charged as it was depicted. My generation, I believe, accepts that nuclear war is not an option; but clearly there was a time when it was (and, unfortunately, that it's still not eliminated).
Hannibal
I was expecting more gore and blood, based on what I'd read about the movie, so it wasn't nearly as grotesque as some have made it out to be. Watching Ridley Scott's camera work is enthralling, and the music was especially good. However, there's no doubt that Hannibal lacks something that Silence of the Lambs had: the interplay of characters between Lecter and agent Clarice Starling. Julianne Moore was a fine Starling, but wasn't really given much to work with. This movie is more about finding out what's going to happen next, whereas Lambs was about finding out what Lecter and Starling were going to say next. Huge difference.
[Big rush of movies over the holiday week:]
Cast Away (2000)
O Brother! Where Art Thou? (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Finding Forrester (2000)
[End of big holiday rush.]
Space Cowboys (2000)
Yeah, I figured it would be hokey, and it was. But that's not necessarily bad. It's like comfort food in that you know what you're going to get. Still, there were some surprises and disappointments. Tommy Lee Jones is a master of adding depth to characters who are given only two dimensions (see his reaction in Men in Black to Will Smith's barbs about Jones's fiance). At the same time, the direction was overall poor and uninspired. But hey, it was an afternoon movie on a weekend where any sort of entertainment was highly needed.
X-Men (2000)
Although I haven't read the X-Men comics in years, I thought the movie was pretty well done. Wolverine and Rogue were interesting characters, as was the backstory for Magneto. But what's with Storm? Clearly, they just needed a good body (Halle Berry) to fill the cape. And Cyclops wasn't much more than a foil for Wolverine's barbs. And yet, the movie packed a lot into its running time, so that you got a sense for who these people/mutants were. Overall, it felt like a really good X-Men episode; I look forward to the next one.
Gladiator (2000)
Gladiator was the first really big summer event movie in a summer of lackluster event movies (The Patriot? Oh please.) I was looking forward to it as a pure visceral thrill, having seen clips of the computer effects used to make Rome look like Ancient Rome (not ancient then, of course, but you know what I mean).
I walked out amazed. Sure, it has its problems, but on the whole, this is an epic movie. It has an epic sweep, a feeling that there's more going on than just what the screen can tell, and of course the wonderful eye of director Ridley Scott. Russell Crowe deserves whatever fame and money that comes his way after this film: he took a rather normal hero type and turned him into a believable tragic character. I loved Gladiator, and saw it twice (the only summer movie repeat).
Magnolia shares an honored distinction with only a handful of films released in 1999: its advertising campaign actually succeeded in sparking interest in the film without giving away the movie. You've seen the alternative: four-minute trailers that give away the plot, the motivations (if they exist at all), and the best visuals. Magnolia, with a story that couldn't possibly fit into a trailer, teased me along with a variety of ads and trailers that only served to pique my interest. As a result, I went into it without much advance knowledge at all... a great accomplishment these days.
What I experienced didn't disappoint. To say that the movie is "richly layered" seems shallow, because the movie is really one large interwoven texture. Essentially the stories of several people who at first don't seem to be connected, Magnolia isn't content to play a scene, switch to the next scene, then return to the first after a sufficient time has passed. No, you're watching all of the stories simultaneously, it seems (reminiscent of The Pillow Book, though not explicitly split-screened). Threads overlap and intersect, but you never lose track of what's happening. And seemingly all of it is set to music, adding to the effect of watching a symphony unspool.
Magnolia isn't without its faults: for example, a scene where all of the major characters sing portions of the same song comes off poorly, even though you can see what director Paul Thomas Anderson was attempting to get at. But its strengths far outweigh the faults. The acting is superb, a consistent level of craft throughout the movie. Visually spectacular (though devoid of few spectacle shots) and often emotionally powerful, I place Magnolia way up near the top of my favorite movies this year. [30-Jan-2000]
More and more, I'm beginning to believe that Matt Damon is a pretty-boy who's getting a bad rap. Following the success of Good Will Hunting, which not only solidified Damon as a star but as an Oscar-winning screenwriter as well, he's shown that there's more than just the grinning poster boy of Gen-X talent. Playing against expected Hollywood type, Damon's Ripley is a man whose characterization is played out as much on Damon's face as in his dialog or actions. It's can't be easy to play a character whose appearance is bright but whose motivations are dark, and Damon succeeds admirably. It's too bad the same can't be said of costar Gwyneth Paltrow, who really just seems to occupy space and give the story a character who suspects Ripley's truths. Ripley the movie is beautifully shot, with an infectious ability to capture the feeling of live jazz in its early heyday, the tastes of wine and espresso, and the Italian sun. [30-Jan-2000] |
