Film Blather Blog

Zero Day

2009-05-17T12:24:00.003-05:00

Zero Day (Ben Coccio, 2003) - B

One of the flurry of Columbine deconstructions released shortly after the tragedy; the thesis here is that armchair psychoanalysis of Harris and Klebold, labeling them angry goth outcasts and blaming violent video games and heavy metal music for stoking their rage, is embarrassingly facile and wrong. Obviously very incident-specific, and the rebuke to the media's treatment of Columbine is a little on the nose (we probably didn't need the scene of Andre and Calvin throwing their possessions in a bonfire to prevent their latter dissection, or the part where they angrily insist that there are no reasons, so don't look for any), but the effect is genuinely chilling -- and probably far closer to the "truth" than the conventional understanding (or lack thereof) of the Columbine perpetrators. The video diary gimmick doesn't quite work (there are some contrivances to justify why such-and-such is being recorded, as there usually are in movies like this), but Coccio pulls it off better than, say, the unjustly acclaimed My Suicide, which cheated left and right. He has a flair for effortless naturalism, too; casual conversations and momentary appearances by supporting players (parents; cousins; a girlfriend) ring totally true, as does much of Andre and Calvin's showboating for the camera. Their hip, knowing casualness (striking poses and calling themselves the "Army of Two") seems forced at first, but finally makes total sense; there are hints that they are motivated by petty revenge (bullying, being ignored, the like), but the movie never posits it as a "cause," and suggests that it may just be rationalization. Coccio speculates that they're really after transcendence and escape -- being a part of something awful and grand -- but ultimately doesn't insist on any interpretation. Obvious counterpoint is Gus Van Sant's Elephant; Zero Day is less artful, but more convincing.

Lymelife

2009-05-08T01:37:00.002-05:00

Lymelife (Derick Martini, 2009) - C+

A shame that this doesn't really go anywhere interesting, because it has a jittery, nervous energy I enjoyed, and some unhinged moments that set it apart from your typical suburban malaise dramedy, at least for a while. Best part is the central family dynamic -- a hurricane of discontent, with rare rays of love and affection peeking through the thunderheads. But the Alec Baldwin character is more of a concept ("self-absorbed obsessive status-seeker") than a human being, some of the coming-of-age stuff is a standard-issue drag, the crazy Timothy Hutton thing is a bust, and the last act loses urgency despite Martini's best efforts. Probably still worth it for some gripping stretches and nice performances, including a beautifully layered one from Jill Hennessy, and a wired, volatile one from Kieran Culkin, who really should work more. Also, the trailer for this movie gives away far too much.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

2009-04-12T01:31:00.004-05:00

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2009) - C+

Mystified by the contempt for this perfectly watchable adaptation. Familiar story -- a kid breaks free from his tyrannical gangster father during the Summer That Changed Everything -- is told with feeling; the key is that Art not only asserts his independence but sheds his paralyzing indifference (the first dinner conversation with dad and the subsequent encounter with Momo are key), which is a more engaging and less clichéd journey. I don't think the love triangle has the depth that Thurber would like (all the talk about "saving" Cleveland is idle, really, except in the immediate sense of saving him from thugs), and the action climax is stupid, but the movie is likably earnest and admirable in its refusal to blow things out of proportion (I'm not sure I've ever seen a mainstream film treat an ostensibly straight character's bisexual experimentation so matter-of-factly). And Peter Sarsgaard is typically awesome. Crumbles in the last 15 minutes, which are a tone-deaf trainwreck, but the whole is far better than the weirdly dire reviews suggest.

The Edge of Love

2009-04-10T23:14:00.003-05:00

The Edge of Love (John Maybury, 2009) C-

Um. I'm not even sure what the thesis is here, if any, other than that Dylan Thomas was an insufferable lout. Certainly it doesn't work as a character piece, consisting as it does of unpleasant people doing boring things; the basic set-up is a pouty romantic and a needy pragmatist squabbling half-heartedly over a self-centered void, which sure isn't my idea of a good time. Cillian Murphy drops in occasionally and livens things up just by virtue of being an interesting actor, unlike the other three, but this is just brain-stabbingly dour stuff -- who could possibly have been passionate about this portrait of a pretentious starving artist and his two miserable groupies? There's one interesting moment early, when a tender love scene starts to literally fragment to foreshadow the rest of the plot, while Angelo Badalamenti's typically gorgeous score tenderly caresses us, but other than that, yeesh.

The Great Buck Howard

2009-04-06T00:30:00.002-05:00

The Great Buck Howard (Sean McGinly, 2009) - C+

Tepid showbiz comedy, ambling along predictably without any edge, suspense, momentum, or big laughs. It's leavened quite a bit by John Malkovich's totally singular weirdness (his Shatner-esque rendition of "What the World Needs Now" is pretty priceless) and a few other truly bizarre moments (e.g. George Takei's Regis and Kelly appearance), but mostly it just feels familiar, with a trite follow-your-dreams message that doesn't belong anywhere near a creation as perverse as Buck Howard himself. I have to say though that Tom Hanks' hopeful career brainstorming for his wayward son sounded eerily familiar to me personally. "Wait, get this: entertainment law!"

Adventureland

2009-04-05T00:21:00.003-05:00

Adventureland (Greg Mottola, 2009) - B

Kristen Stewart's a revelation here, inhabiting a moody, genuinely troubled, perhaps depressed character in the middle of a goofy coming-of-ager, and doing it with confidence and poise instead of hysterics. Pairing her with Jesse Eisenberg in starring roles is a bold choice that pays off in spades: the script mostly just calls for a nerdy-virgin-romances-experienced-girl cliche, but Stewart's mesmerizing anger and vulnerability and Eisenberg's obvious intelligence elevate it. Movie's sincere, sweet, and often genuinely funny, though it's better in its looser, free-form moments than when the plot takes over (the whole "Lisa P" bit could probably have been tossed). Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig seem out of place, and the ending's a bit misjudged (the credits should have rolled 5 minutes earlier), but these are quibbles; the movie's smart and interesting basically the whole way through. It seems to have collapsed at the box-office, which is a shame and kind of inexplicable. It's worth your money.

Sunshine Cleaning

2009-03-31T01:52:00.005-05:00

Sunshine Cleaning (Christine Jeffs, 2009) - C+

An unbearably adorable little kid who talks to the heavens on a CB radio; the old man and his rotting shrimp; Mary Ann Rajskub as crazy blood lady; one-armed Clifton Collins Jr.; "I recommend the pecan pie"; not to mention the entire crime-scene-clean-up-as-therapy conceit: yep, it's a real quirk-o-rama up in this bitch. And it's maudlin, too, with the big thematically convenient revelation mucking shit up at the one-hour mark. But my love for Amy Adams conquers all, or nearly all: she perfectly nails the former-star-cheerleader-with-moxie-and-grit-but-low-self-esteem thing, and her insanely charismatic (yet, somehow, believably insecure) presence just about saves the film. A big step up for Christine Jeffs from the godawful Sylvia; moves at a good clip, with a screenplay that has a few big laughs and some nice subtleties in the earlier scenes (I particularly liked the way the movie lets us piece together the details of Adams' relationship with the Steve Zahn character). A little too immaculately cute for me, but certainly watchable.

Phoebe in Wonderland

2009-03-08T02:43:00.003-05:00

Phoebe in Wonderland (Daniel Barnz, 2009) - B

Massively self-sabotaging: making all the kids but Fanning and Colletti little horrors, and all the adults but the parents and Patricia Clarkson clueless caricatures was a huge miscalculation, giving the movie a rigged feel; the fantasy sequences add nothing, as the movie itself tacitly acknowledges; Felicity Huffman's big "I'm mad" speech is laughably theatrical, a quixotic piece of Oscar bait. But Phoebe in Wonderland is so unique and valuable that I was willing to forgive a lot: this is a singular portrayal of mental illness, sympathetic and accessible, but also difficult, uncompromising and uncondescending. The screenplay, meticulously constructed to reveal Phoebe's condition gradually, is partially to thank. But the bulk of the credit must go to Elle Fanning, who gives frankly the most astonishing child performance I've ever seen. I have no idea how it's even possible to get a performance like that out of a nine year-old girl. I was in tears through much of the movie, for all its flaws, so make of that what you will.

Taken

2009-02-07T13:32:00.003-05:00

Taken (Pierre Morel, 2009) - B+

Completely preposterous in the best possible way -- painted in broad strokes, but in ways that are clever and self-aware: the set-up is that Neeson quit the CIA to rebuild his relationship with his teenage daughter after neglecting it his entire career, and the way the movie establishes this is absurdly over the top, but made plausible by Neeson's humble performance and the screenplay's puppy-dog sincerity. (When Neeson proudly presents his daughter with a karaoke machine for her birthday only to be upstaged by her step dad trotting out a horse, I laughed like a hyena, most likely frightening everyone else in the audience.) It's an off-kilter but believable emotional core that makes the rest of the film truly suspenseful even when it's hilariously unlikely. (Neeson's trick of identifying the villain by voice would have been a dealbreaker in nearly every other movie.) It helps, too, that the movie busts out an occasional moody, sinister flourish, like the climactic auction. Just outstanding entertainment, and rare.

While the City Sleeps

2009-01-29T03:01:00.002-05:00

While the City Sleeps (Fritz Lang, 1956) - B-

As noir it's convoluted and all over the place; as a treatise on the downfall of good old-fashioned public-interest newspaper reporting in favor of profit-seeking, frenzied competition, and (most heretically) other news formats it's as best charmingly quaint. Would have been stronger if it were more credible; I just didn't buy that Andrews would set his fiance up as bait without even telling her, for example, or how the villain is ultimately caught; and John Barrymore Jr. is simply ridiculous as the serial killer. All of this is, however, very entertaining and at times hilarious, revealing a droll, deadpan sense of humor I didn't know Fritz Lang possessed; look out for a wonderfully unctuous performance by Vincent Price as an unscrupulous newspaper heir.

Scandal Sheet; Notorious

2009-01-25T04:00:00.001-05:00

Scandal Sheet (Phil Karlson, 1952) - B+

A fantastically entertaining "newspaper noir" -- my first film at Noir City 2009, which has a newspaper theme this year. The central irony -- shameless tabloid journalist kills a woman and watches as his sensationalist rag brings about his own downfall -- is probably a bit too immaculate for me, especially with that groaner of a final shot, but it plays out in a way that's sly, suspenseful, and often hilarious. Subtly stylized, taking place mostly in an insular little four-character universe, with a wonderful contrast between Broderick Crawford's hard-bitten editor and John Derek's ultra-suave reporter; has moments of brilliant wit (the drunk who starts singing loudly as Henry O'Neill's Charlie Barnes attempts to make an important phone call; "a very rare item, a picture of a dame with her mouth shut") and striking beauty (the Hudson river peering out from the end of an alley as the villain does a dastardly deed). Just a straightforward, satisfying, non-guilty pleasure.

Notorious (George Tillman, Jr., 2009) - C+

Not very good at all, but it sort of won me over. First of all there are some towering performances: Jamal Woolard's perfectly convincing title turn, for one, but also Naturi Naughton, dead-on as Lil' Kim, and the incredible Anthony Mackie as Tupac; even the normally bland Derek Luke finds his groove as Puffy. Second, I liked the film's vision of these guys as basically good-hearted but tragically immature, not sufficiently weaned from the streets to handle the money and the power that comes their way; only Puffy, the consummate businessman, had his head on straight, and look at him now. Ultimately it's needlessly sappy and overstated, with atrocious use of voiceover and a style that tries to be propulsive but never finds a rhythm. Might be worth a matinee.

My Bloody Valentine; Ballast

2009-01-17T14:31:00.002-05:00

My Bloody Valentine (Patrick Lussier, 2009) [3-D] - B-

Never thought "charming" would be the best word to describe My Bloody Valentine 3-D, but here we are. Pretty much knew I would enjoy it when I saw the first shot: a blaring (and three-dimensional!) newspaper headline reading "BURIED ALIVE!" -- precisely the sort of silly grand gesture that makes me sit up and pay attention. What follows is an exuberant throwback to slasher flicks of old, set in a small mining town where everyone knows one another, with a goofy soap opera storyline stringing together the pickax impalements. Not remotely scary, ending is a not-terribly-clever cheat, and the 3-D doesn't really work (the background is flat and the foreground looms, which is the worst possible use of the technology; there's a scene where someone gets impaled through the head from the back, and it looks like the pole goes at a 45-degree angle), but I was willing to forgive all that for the sake of (for example) a scene where the female lead attacks the masked killer with frozen poultry.

Ballast (Lance Hammer, 2008) - B-

Went back and forth on the grade, but ultimately I think this is a bit affected, with Hammer's determination to disrupt conventional storytelling and screenwriting rhythms having the effect of making the characters (and the film) weirdly catatonic (and stupid: did those thugs pull over the woman and her son just to punch them in the face? I thought they'd at least take the car). It is otherwise an engaging, bleak, hopeful slice-of-life, three ordinary characters in a plausibly unremarkable situation, arriving at a simple, unobtrusive we-can-help-each-other message.

Charly

2009-01-14T03:53:00.003-05:00

Charly (Ralph Nelson, 1968) - C+

So there I was, admiring the movie's straightforward, unadorned feel -- which, oddly enough, makes Cliff Robertson in "full retard" mode a less grating presence by not drawing attention to it -- when it went off the deep end on me. I suppose the stylistic fireworks that ultimately dominate were necessary to obfuscate the fact that the movie doesn't really have time to tell this story properly. The last 40 minutes are a mad dash to the finish, with the central romance essentially confined to a brief abstract montage, the big diatribe against modernity coming out of nowhere, and the nightmarish (and frankly ridiculous) fantasy "chase" sequence evaporating as abruptly as it begins. The ending does work, and the whole thing can be read as a metaphor for humanity in general (the human species emerges from the ooze and gets to the point where it can consider its own consciousness and intelligence, only its technological progress threatens to send it back to the stone age), but this called for a more patient, less emphatic approach.

Bride Wars

2009-01-14T01:43:00.003-05:00

Gonna make an honest effort to get back into posting capsules here regularly. God help me.

Bride Wars (Gary Winick, 2009) - C

30 minutes in: "I actually kind of like this." 60 minutes in: "Uhhhhh..." 80 minutes: "Fuuuuuuuuuuuck." Offers some nice moments, which is more than I ever expect from these utilitarian rom-coms, e.g. Chris Pratt's proposal to Hathaway, with him explaining why he decided to propose on their couch rather than somewhere more glamorous; the lovely, fleeting pay-off to Hathaway's fretting about wearing her mom's wedding dress. And much of the cast is so charming that the movie's never too painful, although when I realized why Bryan Greenberg was in the movie despite having like seven minutes of screentime I kind of wanted to walk out (it might be the clearest illustration of the Law of Economy of Characters that I've ever seen). The movie gets clumsier and (even) less interesting as the central rivalry intensifies, and the resolution is just embarrassingly shoddy, desperate as it is to leave everything neat and squeaky clean. Not remotely worthwhile, but I've seen worse, and Kate Hudson as a Ropes & Gray "associate" is kind of a hoot.

The I Inside

2008-12-04T16:49:00.003-05:00

The I Inside (Roland Suso Richter) - D-

I haven't the slightest idea why this was in my Netflix queue. Maybe the freaky-time-traveling-mystery aspect drew me. Anyway, it's a complete embarrassment, without a single moment that doesn't ring glaringly false. This is the kind of movie that finds it necessary to do a Chinese zoom on an exit sign on a wall before its protagonist bolts for the door. Also the kind of movie that's fond of summarizing the preceding five minutes by having a character start sentences with "Let me get this straight: ..." Could have been interesting despite the stupid script had Richter established the hospital, where 95% of the action takes place and which becomes akin to a prison for the main character, as a distinctively spooky cinematic place, but it's just drab and ugly. As for the ending: I -- and probably you -- have seen this precise twist at least three times before. Maybe more.

The Dead Zone; Australia

2008-11-30T18:00:00.003-05:00

The Dead Zone (David Cronenberg, 1983) - B+

Unlike Naked Lunch, below, there is nothing "Cronenbergian" at all about the subject matter here, but you can still feel the man's influence in the film's patience and intelligence (as well as the sudden appearance of matter-of-fact gruesomeness). Cronenberg's smart enough, for example, to let the movie develop without much of a plot, with a character arc instead of a story arc at its center; the resulting episodic feel makes it feel bigger, eerier (the application of Johnny's gifts ranges from the small and personal to the apocalyptic), and makes Johnny's journey from bitterness to resignation to embrace feel like precisely that: a journey. This is also one of the rare Stephen King movies to fully adopt the author's famous Maine setting, the haunting snowy backdrops perfectly complementing the slow-burn mood set by Cronenberg (though this isn't a "cold" movie -- there's a lot of green in the palette). And it's one of the few times Christopher Walken has gotten to be a straightforward protagonist. You may or may not be surprised to discover that he's a rather compelling leading man.

Australia (Baz Luhrmann, 2008) - C-

But for a moderately rousing 30-minute stretch halfway through, this would be enough to drive a man to drink, or possibly suicide. Three movies: a sweeping love story, a pseudohistorical drama about the Australian aboriginal "stolen generations" (see Rabbit-Proof Fence), and a standard-issue western with plucky cattle ranchers taking on a devious monopolist (the only part that remotely works). Really dire for the first 45 minutes or so, with Luhrmann's frantic, smirking, glaringly artificial style thoughtlessly plunked down in the middle of an Australian desert (the filmmaker, used to his elaborate soundstages, has no clue what to do with the vast barren expanses of his chosen setting); becomes more tolerable when it settles into a hard-to-resist underdog movie rhythm; goes to hell in the ugly, war-torn third act. Patronizing, saccharine, impossibly boring.

Naked Lunch; Bolt

2008-11-27T16:52:00.005-05:00

Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991) - B-

This sort of pure metaphor isn't really my thing, but I do admire the fact that Cronenberg at least made an attempt to give it a somewhat coherent literal dimension. Essential for fans of the filmmaker since audio-visually it's probably the most Cronenbergian Cronenberg film ever, with characters constantly caressing fleshy typewriters and sucking addictive gooey liquids out of tubes protruding from the heads of buglike alien creatures. So there's that. Also: Peter Weller circa 1991 = James Woods + Daniel Craig.

Bolt (Byron Howard & Chris Williams, 2008) - C

You know, movies have been sending talking dogs and cats on cross-country adventures since time immemorial. Was it really necessary to contrive such a labored set-up to do so here? There's this TV show about a superhero dog, you see, but the dog actor thinks it's all real, and the producers of the show go to ridiculous lengths to maintain this impression, but then the producers decide that it's too predictable for the dog to save the day every time, so they end an episode with the dog's owner and sidekick captured by the show's villain, only the dog thinks it's all real, you see, and then the dog gets trapped in a box and shipped across the country, and now has to find his way back to his owner, who he thinks is in grave danger, but he thinks he has superpowers, you see... Complicated but largely charmless, and not very funny; the delusional hero thing is hard to pull off, and the movie doesn't make it work. I must say though that this is the best, most immersive use of 3-D that I've ever seen.

Quantum of Solace; Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

2008-11-19T17:12:00.002-05:00

Quantum of Solace (Marc Forster, 2008) - C

See here. Short version: If Bond films are going to be generic actioners, rather than trips to the familiar, idiosyncratic James Bond universe, they had better be good generic actioners. This one mostly sucks.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath, 2008) C

A smartalecky chatterbox of a movie that's essentially a rapid-fire kidflick cliche remix. Some appealing weirdness -- the first appearance of studly hippo Moto-Moto is priceless -- but not enough of its predecessor's visual wit and originality; making the central plot a parody of The Lion King may have seemed like a funny idea, but the result is that at every turn the film recalls one of the greatest animated features of all time. It looks fucking amazing on IMAX though.

Synecdoche, New York

2008-11-16T14:50:00.004-05:00

Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008) - C

Ho hum, another recursive autocritique from Charlie Kaufman, who is becoming like the rappers who rap almost entirely about their rapping. Kaufman is the successful but dissatisfied artist, endlessly searching for truth but being tripped up by artistic pretense and the limitations of his medium; ideas keep flowing but not adding up to anything; the rest of his life melds with his art. Starts out as a depressing absurdist comedy and turns into a disturbing, disorienting fever dream -- much like the way Kaufman sees his own life, I'm sure, or else just the Plight of the Artist. It would take a second viewing for me to really unpack this, but that seems unlikely; just because the movie comments on its self-indulgence doesn't make it any less self-indulgent. Kaufman seems to have withdrawn, his cleverness now focused toward pet themes rather than storytelling, and the opaqueness becomes increasingly irritating as we realize that he's not going to give us anything to latch onto here. Some amiably goofy gags (the house that's constantly on fire; Caden's present to his daughter), but probably not worth your time; depends on how much you're willing to humor Kaufman.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

2008-11-13T03:14:00.002-05:00

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Mark Herman, 2008) - B

Even before the awful ending, I already thought this was one of the most horrifying movies about the Holocaust I've ever seen -- which is perverse, since it is largely about a German boy who seems never to be in any real danger. But his instinctive compassion and lack of comprehension is deeply moving, and watching the evil around him chip away at it is like being repeatedly punched in the gut. The movie is entirely unambitious and sometimes overwrought, but there's force in its simplicity: it made me physically ill. To some degree its formal banality might actually work to its advantage, since the contrast between its bland production values and its unflinching depiction of atrocity is jarring. On the other hand, the cruel, contrived irony of the last ten minutes is too much -- I was appropriately shocked that the movie Went There, but I didn't buy that it would happen like that, and it felt like the film was going out of its way to teach some of its characters a lesson. Still pretty powerful, and you haven't seen depressing until you've seen The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

Ladder 49

2008-11-12T03:24:00.004-05:00

Ladder 49 (Jay Russell, 2004) - C-

Wow -- I guess this can only be seen as an immediate post-9/11 artifact, when the (understandable and right) national reverence of firefighters would prompt this sort of dully worshipful, rudimentary love letter to the profession. Might have been (more) interesting had it tried to answer why people are driven to this extraordinarily dangerous job despite its toll on life and family, but it seems content with repeating that "saving people is worth it," which seems a tad reductive as insight into human motivation (and not even obviously true when "it" is a widow and several fatherless children). Formally, the film insists on the most boring version of Hollywood gloss, apt to undercut perfectly decent scenes by blaring a country song on the soundtrack, and prone to arty non sequiturs like segueing from a baptism to a water dripping on a trapped firefighter's forehead. There's a lot of firefighting action, but it's too expensive: the fancy crane shots and the lovingly observed explosions kill all immediacy, making the experience akin to watching theme park special effects. Some minor pleasures in the performances -- Phoenix is awfully good at these genial dullard roles, and it's fun to see Travolta as just a regular guy for once -- but I don't think it's possible to watch this in 2008 and not ask "why".

City of Ember

2008-10-19T14:16:00.004-05:00

City of Ember (Gil Kenan, 2008) - B

Infuriating how people don't know a good thing when they see one. This is basically Lions for Lambs without the lecturing -- a movie about the immorality of "minding your own business" in the midst of a global crisis, an eloquent stance against complacency and blind faith. Thematically ambitious and working on several levels: the protagonists run into resistance that isn't political or even pragmatic but rather "it's not my job"; at the same time, the City at large is convinced that it is destined to thrive because it is "the only beacon of light in the darkness" -- shining city on a hill, anyone? Gil Kenan, who I am convinced is or will soon become a Burton-like visionary, folds all of this into a lovely fantasy adventure, fluid and immersive -- and also bold and abrupt when it needs to be, e.g. the opening shot and sequence. Loses it a teensy bit in the climax, which is a protracted and starts to look a bit chintzy (also, I'm still not sure what to make of Tim Robbins' bottle opener), but so the hell what. Hugely underrated.

catch-up

2008-10-12T18:56:00.008-05:00

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (Robert Wiede, 2008) - B-

Worth seeing for a bunch of disconnected reasons: a) Simon Pegg's hilarious physicality; b) the occasional bit of deadpan weirdness that had me rolling ("there are seven rooms"); c) dead-on supporting turns by Danny Huston, Max Minghella, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges... even Kirsten Dunst, allowed to let loose a bit in an R-rated context, is more than just her usual adorable self. But Pegg's transformation from obnoxious boor to lovable scamp is less than convincing, and the whole romantic plot is a bit uneasy. Very funny though.

Quarantine (John Erick Dowdle, 2008) - B-

Okay, so the whole virus-that-makes-people-bite-one-another thing is clearly played, and this doesn't have the political subtext or technical virtuosity of, say, 28 Weeks Later to make up for it. The first-person stunt is also rapidly approaching "played" status, and creates myriad logistical problems. All that said, Quarantine provides enough decent visceral thrills for me to recommend it to horror junkies. Goes to hell in the last act, which is more hysterical than scary and resorts to infuriating exposition-by-newspaper-clipping, but even that doesn't kill the thing.

Eden Log (Franck Vestiel, 2008) - C

I like the story (i.e. what we get in the occasional bursts of exposition) and it's too bad that the movie constructed around it is so murky and boring. I've read the video game interpretation -- nearly-silent character wanders through levels dodging bad guys on his way to a big finale -- but it doesn't make the film any better, I'm afraid. Final shot verges on self-parody.

Blindness

2008-10-04T16:17:00.002-05:00

Blindness (Fernando Meirelles, 2008) - C-

This has to be the most jury-rigged Lord of the Flies scenario ever devised. The government locks a bunch of newly blind people in a prison, with little food, no assistance, no sanitation, no communication with the outside world, and they descend into chaos and disorder? No kidding. And how, exactly, do things go downhill? Well, half of the quarantined suddenly become evil. Really? That's the great insight into human nature? By the time it turned out that the illness had just come to teach everyone a lesson -- LIVE AS A FAMILY, DAMN YOU! DON'T STEAL CARS! -- I was long past taking anything seriously. The interesting question that the movie doesn't remotely explore is why the fictional government react the way it does: just human selfishness? Or something else?

Miracle at St. Anna

2008-09-28T02:26:00.003-05:00

Miracle at St. Anna (Spike Lee, 2008) - C-

No one runs hot and cold quite like Spike Lee. He can still make a good movie (Inside Man), or even a great one (25th Hour), but the time when he was able to tackle race head-on with a measure of nuance, restraint and moral complexity seems to have passed. This is sledgehammer stuff, preachy and obvious (black soldiers in World War II were mistreated and unappreciated, the end); he did seem to realize that he couldn't fill nearly three hours with outrage about this topic, so there's a whole bunch of general war movie stuff too, which is largely unremarkable. A few recognizable Spike Lee moments (most notably the montage involving the sultry German broadcaster trying to tempt black soldiers to lay down their weapons), and a few tense stretches, but mostly it's really freakin' tedious. Features Michael Ealy in one of the year's most irritating performances; on the other hand, having seen this and the surprisingly strong The Express, I'm very impressed with Omar Benson Miller.