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October 03, 2004
Four Movies
I've seen four movies over the last few days. I just started up my NetFlix account again, so that accounts for two of them.
Central Station - After going to see Motorcycle Diaries with my boss and listening to the director and actors do a Q and A after, I decided that I really needed to see the film which he is best known for. Central Station is a road movie, and I must say that I generally hate hate hate road movies. There is too much room to put in a lot of shit that doesn't actually matter, and the character growth usually takes place in a few choice moments, regardless of many other scenes that have proceeded. I wasn't into Central Station at first, but the acting of the female protagonist is just too perfect not to pull you in before too long. I can't believe she lost the Oscar to a certain actress in a certain movie with Ben Affleck. Travesty!! The movie really comes together as you learn more about the woman's personality, and see her trying to come out of the shell she has holed herself up in. The last moments are, of course, entirely unpredictable and very sad. I enjoyed it overall, and I really loved the constant blue skies with puffy white clouds, which reminds me of a painter whose name slips my mind.
Touch of Evil - I'm not a huge Orson Welles fan. Years ago, it was a travesty for any film student to admit that. Then it was commonplace. Now it's somewhere in the middle. I can watch Citizen Kane about once a year, but that's all for me. I honestly think that many of the innovations had very little to do with film theory and everything to do with a man who was very, very good at thinking outside the box. After everyone went crazy over it, he realized that he could stuff a boatload of theory into all his stylistic choices, leading to such movies as Touch of Evil. Certain scenes are brilliant, some performances are memorable, but overall I find the film to be convolluted and meandering. Stylistic as hell, sure, but something feels missing from it. Not that I'll ever speak ill of the opening 2 minutes!
Shaun of the Dead - Hilarious, funny, great stuff and exactly what I was hoping for, and a little more. The end 20 minutes or so gets a little too action-ey over comedy, which prevents it from being totally perfect, but a great little romp through zombie land. This of course is akin to Abbott and Costello Meet (Frankenstein/Dracula/etc.) in signaling the end of the relevance of the zombie movie once and for all. The best that anyone can get in the future will be homages (already started with the Dawn of the Dead remake), and while 28 Days Later was neat, I'm not a huge fan. Zombies have been done to death. Time to make up some new monsters.
The Forgotten - This movie is so ludicrously stupid EXCEPT for one of the coolest, freakiest special effects I've seen in a while. There are aliens involved, of course, and the manner in which they suck people into outer space - literally, right off the ground! - was freakin' scary as fuck. I think it had to do with the fact that there is simply no way to stop it when it happens. We as people are completely defenseless, and though the logic behind it was totally stupid, it was still scary. Also, the lead alien's face was sort of scary.
Rashomon next. I can't believe it's taken me so long to see this movie.
Posted by nick at October 3, 2004 11:44 PM