Movie Reviews

I'm no Roger Ebert, but here's my humble take on a few of the movies that I've seen lately:


Crash - the best movie that we've seen this year. It addresses racism without being preachy. It shows that even those of us who don't consider ourselves racist still do and say things that betray our prejudices. Many of these prejudices are institutional. All races have prejudices against other races. Its non-linear story-telling and ensemble casting is like what I would imagine you would get from smashing a Robert Altman film into Magnolia. The cast is great. I believe it's probably the best thing Brendan Fraser has done outside of Gods and Monsters. It's certainly the best dramatic role that Sandra Bullock has done. Don Cheadle ... what can I say? This man is at the top of his game and I'd be hard-pressed to name a better American actor right now. Fresh off of Hotel Rwanda, he hits another one out of the park. The movie's directed by Paul Haggis, who wrote Million Dollar Baby. That's a pretty good track record for Haggis. Both movies are outstanding. Grade: A+

Finding Neverland - the story of the writer of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie. This is another great example of how Johnny Depp inhabits any role he takes. It's the story of how the people around the writer inspired the characters in Peter Pan. It rides the line between fantasy and reality, much like you feel the real Barrie must have in his life. Outstanding performances besides Depp's: Kate Winslet. I have a thing for all the modern British period piece actresses: Winslet, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, etc. Plus, the child actor Freddie Highmore (soon to be seen in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with co-star Depp) is fantastic. I believe him and Dakota Fanning are the great child actors of this generation. Certainly puts putzes like Jake Lloyd to shame. Grade: B

Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith - easily the best of the "new" Star Wars movies. While not coming up to the standard of the original and Empire Strikes Back, it does well in abandoning the cuteness of Phantom Menace and the painful romantic dialogue of Attack of the Clones. Writing and direction of dialogue scenes ... never a strong point of Lucas ... is shoved to the background and fantastic action and special effects are brought forward. I believe the movie does a good job of tying the end of the new movies into the beginning of the original Star Wars. No outstanding acting to mention except to say that Ewan McGregor, as always, is the best in anything he is in. He successfully channels the ghost of Sir Alec Guinness. Grade: B-

War of the Worlds - I went into this with, perhaps, unrealistic expectations. A classic story, a brilliant director, and an actor who, despite his other faults, usually stars in entertaining movies. And I had really liked Cruise and Spielberg's previous collaboration in Minority Report. Not to say this is a terrible movie ... it is not. It's just that it disappoints in many areas. It's partially hamstrung by the limitations of the original story which had an implausible ending. But more of the problem is tied to character development. I don't know if it's because I was projecting too much of Cruise's real life on to his character, but I never was able to identify or sympathize with the character. Dakota Fanning does well with the poorly written role she inhabits as the daughter. The older brother ... sorry don't know the name of the actor ... is not well written. His actions just don't seem to fit and are not well justified. The special effects are fine and Spielberg stays with the design of the robots as intended by H.G. Wells. The cinematography, as always, is done by Janusz Kaminski. I love his work. He favors a smoky, filtered feel to most of his movies and that is entirely appropriate in things like Schindler's List, A.I., Minority Report, etc. but I think it doesn't feel right in War of the Worlds. Grade: C

Batman Begins - the best popcorn movie that we've seen this summer and it rivals the Spiderman movies for best comic adaptation. Great casting in Christian Bale as Batman. If any of you ever get a chance to see American Psycho, rent it. It's one f**cked-up movie but gives an insight into the acting skills of Bale. I love movies where you don't know if you're supposed to root for the protagonist or not. But back to Batman ... a good reinvention of the character away from the excesses of Burton and Schumaker. This Batman is much more grounded in reality and they do a good job of establishing how he becomes who he is. Supporting roles for Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson and one of my all-time favorites, Gary Oldman. In what is a very understated role for him, he does a great job as detective (and later to be commissioner) Gordon. The director does a good job of not making the special effects the focus of the movie and uses them sparingly. Grade: B+

The Sea Inside - the winner of the best foreign film Oscar this last year. A fantastic movie! It's the "life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity." Javier Bardem is in the starring role. One would think that you would have difficulty expressing the different emotions and nuances of this character when you can only move your head (Sampedro was a quadriplegic) but Bardem does an amazing job. He has more acting ability above the shoulders that most of Hollywood have in the entire bodies. Regardless of how you feel about euthanasia, I believe you can get something from this film. And it certainly allows you to get a fresh perspective on contemporary cases like Terry Schiavo. Grade: A

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If any of you want, post your top 10 movies of all time in the comments to this post.
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