19 December 2008
Year end movies and the race to the Oscars
Posted by admin under: Movie .
This past week, I was in the theater not once, or twice but four times. I saw two of the best films of the year, one not so great and one brilliant but very long film. First off the great films.
“MILK” is one of the best films of the year hands down. The acting, the direction and look help make this one of the few films deserving of all the hype. The director, Gus Van Sant did something great by using actual news footage and interviews in the story.
The second great movie was a big surprise to me. I like Clint Eastwood’s films but never got blown away. For me, they are good but a little slow. His new film, “Gran Torino” is great. Watching it, I keep thinking this is his senior citizen’s take on Dirty Harry, but it’s so much more than that. I not going to give anything away but say go see it.
Next up is a film that for some strange reason is getting a lot of buzz but there’s nothing to it except for one of the lead actor’s performance. “Frost / Nixon” is not a great film and this is me being generous. Frank Langella is great as Nixon but that’s all. The movie spends the first part of the film trying to set up the story of the big interview of 1977 and create this tension, which is just pointless. The best and only part of the film is the interviews, I know this was based on a play and they tried to “Open it up” but it just takes you out and you’re spending all your time waiting for the big fight. Here’s where my main problem with the movie starts. Ron Howard is a decent director, I used to like all his early works from “Night Shift” to “Cocoon.” I even liked “Gung Ho,” but one thing he isn’t is subtle. He treats the interviews as a fight match, we get it, but he does what Spike Lee has done in the past where he doesn’t know when to “throw in the towel.” At one point, I was waiting for a hot ring girl to come in the frame with a billboard showing interview day 3 or day 4. The other thing that bugged me about this film was he tried to treat it like a documetary. Through out the film all the major players (with the exception of nixon and frost), talk to the camera like they are being interviewed for a news story or documentary. It sort of like the film “When Harry Meet Sally,” where real life couples talked about meeting up. If Ron directed that he would have used famous people playing the couples and they would state how they meet.” Instead of giving you an insight to their world, you are taken out of the film. Oh look that’s Oliver Platt talking about DC oh there’s San Rockwell talking about writing a book.
Last but not least is “CHE.” I had the pleasure of seeing it as one film yesterday and it was great, a little long (at four hours plus) but well worth it. Steven Soderbergh did a brilliant job, it’s one great war movie, well really two. I liked the second film / half better but overall the film works in a lot of levels. Benicio Del Toro carries both films flawlessly. The only problem, I had was the first part, CUBA, it just felt long and I not sure why. The first part has more action and shows CHE coming to NY but there’s a disconnect somewhere. The second part in Bolivia feels more intimate and I connected with it better.