Four Days, Four Films
Nov. 5th, 2003 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteI don't often watch so many films on the DVD or VCR, but the timing was just right that I saw four different recent works, three new to me, all noteworthy in some way.
Matrix Reloaded We rented this basically to remind ourselves of what happened in anticipation of seeing the third film, which opens today to apathetic audiences everywhere. We liked it a lot more than most, but after a second viewing I will say that it is not in the same league as the original. Some things that I liked the first time around, such as the scenes in Zion, now drag. Other scenes that I didn't like so much, most notably the 14 minute long Freeway Chase scene, worked better. I find myself somewhat enthusiastic about the third film, but also wonder just how the Wachowskis are going to make everything hold together. Better, I guess, to be ambitious than complacent.
Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman This straight-to-DVD animated film reunites most of the actors and some of the creative talents behind my all-time favorite animated action series. While not as complex or as dark as "Mask of the Phantasm," this is a very enjoyable and reasonably well-constructed story with a very good script by Michael Reeves, one of my favorite animation writers. It's great to see the animated Batman and his world again. Here, the Dark Knight is not quite so dark, a nice change from the comic book Batman of the past fifteen years. It's also great to hear the familiar voices again, with the successful change of David Ogden Stiers as the Penguin. The DVD also includes a marvelous dialogue-free 6-minute Batman short co-written by Paul Dini. If you are a fan of any of the DC adaptations from the last decade, you'll enjoy this film, though it's a bit intense and complex for younger viewers.
The Man Who Wasn't There This was the Coen Brothers' 2001 homage to film noir, and if it were just a little shorter, I would call this brilliant. The Coens leave most of their humor behind but none of their skill in this dark period piece, set in postwar California and starring Billy Bob Thornton as a quiet and dissatisfied barber whose schemes to change his life backfire as they only can in film noir. Almost everything - the acting, the camerawork, the music, the narration by Thornton's character, the pacing - works. There are only a couple of small jarring notes or extra scenes, but otherwise I found myself hooked from the first scene to the last. If you like film noir, odds are you'll like this. If you like the Coen brothers, I will just about guarantee you'll like this. On the Coen brothers scale, I put this behind only "Barton Fink" and "Raising Arizona." (Yes, ahead of "Fargo." I don't like that one so much.) This one, I wish I saw in the theater.
A Mighty Wind For months, everyone has been telling us we have to see this. Well, we did, and while it's a funny and a lot of fun, it's not quite what I expected. Though maybe I shouldn't be surprised, given how much folkies liked it. Missing is the kind of piercing humor that carried "This is Spinal Tap." In its place is perhaps a bit too much affection for the folk acts the film focuses on. Folk music's surroundings become a target, but folk music - often derided but not without some reason - walks away unscathed.
There is much to like, from the music of the Folksmen, to the uniformly strong performances, to the humor surrounding the nebbish running the concert at the heart of the film and the various oddballs in orbit around the event. Ed Begley is especially funny as a Swedish-American PBS executive who uses more Yiddishisms than Sam Levenson. The skerwering of the erzatz New Main Street Singers is also clever.
The relationship between the estranged Mitch and Mickey is played perfectly, but not for laughs at all. Eugene Levy gives a very affecting performance, something I didn't expect. And the rapport between Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest, formed out of years of Spinal Tap reunions, makes the transition from heavy metal to folk with ease. (Batya suggests that it would be interesting to hear each ersatz group play the other's music.)
All that said, I find myself pondering what is missing. And what's most noteworthy by its absence is politics. Say "folk music" to most people and they are likely to think about protest songs and Pete Seeger on the blacklist and Bob Dylan on the pavement and "those damned long-haired hippies." How anyone can make even an affectionate film about folk and leave out the role of the music in the protest movements is beyond me. And how anyone could ignore the huge target of the self-important folk singer is beyond me. As much as I like and respect the folk tradition, there are just a few folk acts who would make very funny targets for satire.
Still, I'm glad I saw this, if equally glad I didn't pay full price in the theater.
Matrix Reloaded We rented this basically to remind ourselves of what happened in anticipation of seeing the third film, which opens today to apathetic audiences everywhere. We liked it a lot more than most, but after a second viewing I will say that it is not in the same league as the original. Some things that I liked the first time around, such as the scenes in Zion, now drag. Other scenes that I didn't like so much, most notably the 14 minute long Freeway Chase scene, worked better. I find myself somewhat enthusiastic about the third film, but also wonder just how the Wachowskis are going to make everything hold together. Better, I guess, to be ambitious than complacent.
Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman This straight-to-DVD animated film reunites most of the actors and some of the creative talents behind my all-time favorite animated action series. While not as complex or as dark as "Mask of the Phantasm," this is a very enjoyable and reasonably well-constructed story with a very good script by Michael Reeves, one of my favorite animation writers. It's great to see the animated Batman and his world again. Here, the Dark Knight is not quite so dark, a nice change from the comic book Batman of the past fifteen years. It's also great to hear the familiar voices again, with the successful change of David Ogden Stiers as the Penguin. The DVD also includes a marvelous dialogue-free 6-minute Batman short co-written by Paul Dini. If you are a fan of any of the DC adaptations from the last decade, you'll enjoy this film, though it's a bit intense and complex for younger viewers.
The Man Who Wasn't There This was the Coen Brothers' 2001 homage to film noir, and if it were just a little shorter, I would call this brilliant. The Coens leave most of their humor behind but none of their skill in this dark period piece, set in postwar California and starring Billy Bob Thornton as a quiet and dissatisfied barber whose schemes to change his life backfire as they only can in film noir. Almost everything - the acting, the camerawork, the music, the narration by Thornton's character, the pacing - works. There are only a couple of small jarring notes or extra scenes, but otherwise I found myself hooked from the first scene to the last. If you like film noir, odds are you'll like this. If you like the Coen brothers, I will just about guarantee you'll like this. On the Coen brothers scale, I put this behind only "Barton Fink" and "Raising Arizona." (Yes, ahead of "Fargo." I don't like that one so much.) This one, I wish I saw in the theater.
A Mighty Wind For months, everyone has been telling us we have to see this. Well, we did, and while it's a funny and a lot of fun, it's not quite what I expected. Though maybe I shouldn't be surprised, given how much folkies liked it. Missing is the kind of piercing humor that carried "This is Spinal Tap." In its place is perhaps a bit too much affection for the folk acts the film focuses on. Folk music's surroundings become a target, but folk music - often derided but not without some reason - walks away unscathed.
There is much to like, from the music of the Folksmen, to the uniformly strong performances, to the humor surrounding the nebbish running the concert at the heart of the film and the various oddballs in orbit around the event. Ed Begley is especially funny as a Swedish-American PBS executive who uses more Yiddishisms than Sam Levenson. The skerwering of the erzatz New Main Street Singers is also clever.
The relationship between the estranged Mitch and Mickey is played perfectly, but not for laughs at all. Eugene Levy gives a very affecting performance, something I didn't expect. And the rapport between Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest, formed out of years of Spinal Tap reunions, makes the transition from heavy metal to folk with ease. (Batya suggests that it would be interesting to hear each ersatz group play the other's music.)
All that said, I find myself pondering what is missing. And what's most noteworthy by its absence is politics. Say "folk music" to most people and they are likely to think about protest songs and Pete Seeger on the blacklist and Bob Dylan on the pavement and "those damned long-haired hippies." How anyone can make even an affectionate film about folk and leave out the role of the music in the protest movements is beyond me. And how anyone could ignore the huge target of the self-important folk singer is beyond me. As much as I like and respect the folk tradition, there are just a few folk acts who would make very funny targets for satire.
Still, I'm glad I saw this, if equally glad I didn't pay full price in the theater.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: Nov. 6th, 2003 08:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Nov. 9th, 2003 05:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Nov. 20th, 2003 02:34 pm (UTC)