Movie Reviews: Holiday '05

Quick-and-Dirty reviews of a few films:

Chronicles of Narnia: B+. Mostly for kids, but very well done. Based on famous series of books. Somewhat Tolkein-esque. Worth seeing. Better to see it on big screen.

Walk the Line: B. Everyone told me, "even if you don't like Johnny Cash, you'll just love this film." It's pretty good, but not fantastic. Performance by Joaquim Phoenix as Cash is a wonderful impersonation, I suppose. Witherspoon as Joan Cash was a little contrived and cutesy. Film will garner Oscar nominations, though.

Brokeback Mountain: A-. An amazing, genre-busting, against-the-current film. Gay cowboys. This film is about the struggle of outsiders... people who find themselves not conforming with their surroundings and how they cope with it. Heath Ledger will get Oscar nomination and may get the award (watch out for P.S. Hoffman in "Capote," still my favorite role of the year). This is a sad film, mostly because it holds the mirror to our own intolerance and prejudice.

The Family Stone: B-. Great cast: Diane Keaton; Sarah Jessica Parker; Dermot Mulroney. Fairly predictable, but well-done and enjoyable romantic comedy. Nice uplift after Brokeback.

King Kong: A-. For a big-budget flick where we already know the plot, this film was way better than I expected it to be. Adrian Brody -- one of my favorite actors -- plays the screenwriter well. P. Jackson's special effects are brilliant, and probably Oscar-worthy. This is definitely worth seeing, and on the big screen.

Syriana: A. One of the best movies of the year, although not in the top five. This one hits so close to home it's scary. I expected to see a disclaimer at the end telling me "The events and characters portrayed in this film are based on actual events and people." G. Clooney's transformation into the soft and frumpy CIA hitman-turned-scapegoat is believeable. There's a scene at the end of the film where some terrorists are attacking a petroleum tanker ship that is a little snippet of directorial brilliance.

OK. That's all I've got for now... enjoy the movies!

Cheers!

Movie Review: Hostel

OK. I don't typically see horror films any more. They're usually fixated on meeting some mimimum number of slashings or a gore-per-second quotient. However, Hostel had two things going for it: (1) Quentin Tarrentino was involved; (2) average critic ratings was about a "B" or "B-" and in horror terms, having a B-rating is quite high. So, I went to see the film...

Mistake.

Here's the concept: College-age kids go backpacking in Europe mostly looking for a little action, and staying in youth hostels along the way. They hear about some "really hot girls" in this hostel in Slovakia -- way out of the way, but worth the trip. They go. One by one, the guys are kidnapped and taken to the hostel, waking up to find themselves the playthings of torture-for-hire customers. It should not come as a SPOILER to hear that the final guy miraculously and improbably escapes and is about to get away, only to be pulled back as he hears the screaming of some girl.

Awwwww........

Even more improbable than his initial escape is how he re-enters the torture complex, finds the girl, helps her escape and returns to the get-away spot again... Oh! I forgot to mention that he's doing all this after both of his hands were mangled. Yeah. That wouldn't slow him down. Not much.

OK. So, QT didn't actually direct this film. I'll admit that going in I thought QT was the director and I was looking for some his trademarks -- significant music; respectful references to other films. Instead, what we got was a re-hashing of that same old tired plot from the 80's and 90's where rich guys pay sleezy guys so they can hunt/torture/kill humans. Usually though, it's an American redneck who's the sleeze providing the quarry. This time, it's a former Soviet block group acting as host.

Don't waste your time seeing this film. Wait till it's on free cable.

In my next post, I'm going to give some quick-and-dirty reviews of a few films I saw during the '05 holidays. Some good ones there!

Cheers!