Movie Reviews – May 2007

Here are the movies we saw this month:

Here are my reviews:

The White Countess

A recently blinded American diplomat is leading an unproductive life in 1936 Shanghai. A good day at the track brings him enough money to open his own nightclub. For a hostess he hires an exiled Russian princess who has done him a favor. Being young and attractive, the princess lives a sordid life to support her extended family who eventually abandon her for her doing the very things necessary to support them. A Japanese man helps him bring in an interesting mix of clientele and the nightclub becomes a success. But the Japanese fellow turns out to be a spy and was in Shanghai investigating what would make a Japanese invasion more successful. The movie ends with everyone trying to escape the now real invasion. The movie is fairly long, longer than it needed to be. Otherwise it presents an interesting story in an interesting time.

Netflix – 3 stars

The New World

The New World is a straight line history of the 1607 Jamestown Colony. It revolves around three main characters; John Smith, Pocahontas, and John Rolfe. The movie is beautifully filmed and the depiction of the people, both English and Indian appears to be very authentic. A little seen piece of our history. All that is pretty good but there are many bad things about this movie. The Indians speak in their native tongue and so do the Englishmen, which is almost unintelligible, west country or something. My son Lance says he often turns on the subtitles in this kind of movie. I should have. The dialog is practically never used to move the story along, mostly the viewer has to follow the action to figure out what is going on. There are strange cuts to beautifully filmed sequences that one can only guess at the significance. I only noticed two names mentioned in the story. One was John Smith, the first of the three main characters. The second was Rebecca, Pocahontas’s Christian name. They never said the name of the third main character, John Rolfe, Pocahontas’s husband. This movie was too long and would have benefitted greatly by being shortened to about 90 minutes.

Netflix – 3 stars

The Spirit of the Beehive

Set in 1940’s Spain, two young sisters go to a traveling movie presentation of the classic horror film Frankenstein. The younger one, Ana, becomes obsessed with finding the monster. When an escaped criminal (perhaps a political prisoner) arrives at the barn where the sisters think the monster lives, Ana brings him food and clothes. Later, the criminal is killed in a gunfight and the girl thinks her father is responsible some way so she runs away. She is later found dazed and confused. This is a Spanish movie with subtitles and won every kind of award they could give it. The father was played by the famous Spanish actor Fernando F. Gomez, who has received 5 Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of our Oscar. The little girl who played Ana, Ana Torrent, was only 7 when she played this part, her second movie. She is still acting to this day. This is an art film and foreign too so it’s a little hard to understand at times. There is something going on between the wife and someone else, perhaps a brother, or a former lover who is maybe the escaped criminal (maybe, can’t be sure). The father is a scientist studying bees and there is some tie in with the little girl’s confusion and the beehive he is studying. Again, the tie in is unclear. Maybe all of this makes more sense if you can understand Spanish. I liked it though, a change of pace.

Turner Classic Movies – 3 stars

One Last Thing

A teenager who is dying of cancer asks for a date with a supermodel as his last wish. She herself is on the skids; drinking, pill popping, and being obnoxious to those around her. At her agent’s insistance, she goes to visit the boy, only to blow off his wish. She gives him her number and tells him to call her if he is ever in New York City. Of course, the first thing he and his buddies do is take a road trip there. He meets her but she advises him to go home. Crushed, he returns to school with only a short time to live. She has a change of heart. They go fishing and camp overnight on the beach. The Netflix description of this movie gives one the wrong idea. They imply that the model is a shrew to the boy, that he should be careful what he wishes for. But all through the movie, while she does not intend to grant his wish, she is nothing but sweet and honest to the kid. Her change of heart at the end is his dream come true. A little movie, but nice.

Netflix – 3 stars

Slaughterhouse Five

We saw a screening of this movie at the Peace Center and that’s a whole other story in itself. The movie was based on the book by Kurt Vonnegut but according to those at the discussion, it followed the story but lost practically all of Vonnegut’s humor. It is about everyman Billy Pilgrim, a poor schmuck that becomes unstuck in time. He, and the movie, bounce around to various times in his life. He was a POW in WWII and was sent to a prison camp in Dresden so he was around at the time of the fire bombing. He marries a rich man’s daughter and becomes president of the Moose Lodge in the 1950’s. His son turns wild in the 1960’s and his wife is killed racing to the hospital to be with Billy after he is the sole survivor of a plane crash. And finally, he is abducted by aliens and transported to the planet Tralfamidore where they also abduct and bring him, Montana Wildhat, a hotsy-totsy he drools about. A mean guy from his army days has threatened to kill him and finally does. I’m not sure I ever figured this movie out.

Private screening and discussion – 3 stars

Sleeper

What a delight to see this old favorite. It holds up pretty well after all these years. Many people think this is Woody Allen’s funniest movie and I think I have to agree. There isn’t a lot of high brow humor here. It’s mostly slapstick; like him spinning around after he falls out of the gyrocoptor, or running over the Leader’s nose with a steamroller, or him running into the legs of the brain police with a wheelchair when they come to get him, or him fighting with the dinner guests for possession of the Orb. The plot? Fah! Who needs plot? It’s just there to set up the gags. This movie was made in 1973. We didn’t see it when it came out or Bananas either. But we did see them as a double bill a year or so later. In fact, we saw them the day after Nixon resigned from the Presidency. When they show the scene where the doctor speculates that the guy on the TV may have been a President (it was Nixon of course) but that he had done something so terrible that all records of him had been wiped out, the theater went wild.

Turner Classic Movies – 4 stars

Shopgirl

Mirabelle is leading a lonely life when she meets an aimless young man in the laundrimat. Their relationship seems doomed from the start. She tells him to take his life in his hands and make something of it. He goes on the road with a rock band as a roadie. In the mean time an older, rich man takes an interest in her. She loves him but he is not willing to commit. On a getaway weekend with him to New York City she bumps into the roadie who she finds is the right guy for her. I’m not sure why I rented this movie. On reading the description when it arrived it appeared that is was going to be a classic chick flick. I figured it would be like Broken Flowers or Lost in Translation. I was pleasantly surprised. It was more like Under the Tuscan Sun. It was kind of sweet and left you feeling good instead of wanting to blow your brains out.

Netflix – 3 stars

Super Size Me

A perfectly normal guy made this documentary about how bad fast food is for you. Before he begins he consults 3 different doctors; a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a GP I think. All examine him and give him blood work etc. He is not overweight and is in great health. His challenge is to eat only McDonalds food, three meals a day, to try everything on the menu at least once, and to super size his order, but only if they ask him if he wants to. In a few days he gets sick after eating one of the meals, but then starts to be accustomed to it. However, his body does not. Every so often you get a “super” saying “Day 16” or whatever. He goes from bad to worse. At three weeks in, some of the doctors are saying things like, “You need to quit this experiment or you are going to have complete liver shut down.” That type of thing. But he does see it through. He gains about 20 pounds and his blood numbers go through the ceiling. As you can imagine, his vegan girlfriend is horrified by the whole business. When he is finished, she puts him on a strict vegan regimine and he does get back to normal with no ill effect. Throughout the day to day progress he does interviews with various people; customers, McDonalds employees, health professionals and he narrates general information on the fast food industry. This show is horrifying. I guarantee you will stop to think. I almost vowed to go on a strict diet but fortunately came to my senses the next morning. No fear, fast food is not a frequent part of our diet anyway. Just over indulgence.

Netflix – 3 stars

The Mystery of Picasso

IMDb says, “A filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.” This captures the movie in a nutshell. The first six or seven pieces are colored sketches which he does on a semi-transparent screen. He sketches on one side while you see only the result on the other side. Then he progresses to oil paintings. For these he paints a few details and stands aside, then the camera films the result for a couple of seconds. It looks like the picture is painting itself. There is no plot, there is no “action”, just Picasso creating one work after another. I have to say you will need to be someone interested in art to stick this entire film out. But if that is you, you will be rewarded with a wonderful view of Picasso’s creative approach and production technique. I liked it, you may not.

Turner Classic Movies – 3 stars

Thank You For Smoking

A tobacco industry lobbiest goes about his business defending tobacco companies wherever he can. Divorced and a non-custodial father, he tries to keep his son’s respect. A sexy journalist who is interested in a story ensnares him in an affair and extracts all the research she needs for her expose article while he is at his most vulnerable. The world starts crashing down around him. When he testifies at a Senate hearing, he redeems himself and makes everything right. It’s hard to imagine yourself being on the side of big tobacco but you really like the main character and want him to succeed.

Netflix – 3 stars

Art School Confidential

A nerdy, somewhat talented high school art student decides to attend an art school in New York City. The experience is an unending series of disappointments. He can’t get the girl. His teacher gives him advice only to fault him when he takes it. Students of lesser talent get the acclaim. And all through this there is a series of mass murders going on around the campus. You know that our hero is going to be mixed up in it somehow. Just how is the climax of the movie. I liked this film. It’s dark comedy, but there was a thread of reality running through it. It reminded me of some of my own experiences in the art world.

Netflix – 3 stars

Citizen Kane

The American Film Institute voted this movie the best film of all time. I’m not sure I understand why that is. It tells the life story of Charles Foster Kane, a character roughly based on newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. He is somewhat likeable but at least to me he is an unattractive character. Mostly, I suppose I just didn’t care what happened to him. My son-in-law Zach said as a “film” it deserves an A+ for its innovative techniques but as a “movie” it deserves a solid C.

Netflix – 3 stars