Reviews in Review on Parade

[talktooloose]

The Ballad of Jack and Rose
First of all, anything with Daniel Day-Lewis is going to be good. (Aside: how does the Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim think he can get away with his name?)

This movie, written and directed by Day-Lewis' wife Rebecca Miller (granddaughter of Arthur Miller) doesn't have a false note in the acting by any of the excellent cast. This, to me, indicates a really sure-handed director. Even Jason Lee's short screen time (mmm, Jason Lee) reveals a fully-realized believeable person. Catherine Keener is one of the best and funniest actors in the world. Period.

The movie, about a man with a terminal heart condition, living on an island in an ex-hippy commune with his adolescent daughter, deliberately evokes The Tempest and asks a lot of questions about the true motivations behind the father's idealism. The daughter (played by Camilla Belle) is a marvel: furious, joyous and able to go head to head with her headstrong father as he turns her perfect secluded world on its head. Watch her let poisonous snakes loose in the house! Watch her hang her blooded devirginification sheets like a flag of conquest! Watch her reinvent herself when her world makes no sense anymore.

Also featuring the affable Beau Bridges as an evil developer and the cool Jena Malone who was so great in Secret Life of Altarboys, Life As a House and Saved!. Bonus! First movie I've ever seen shot on Prince Edward Island that didn't involve a Lucy Maud Montgomery character.

Saw
Pretty good. The ideas are there and the atmosphere is right but the director couldn't always pull it off. Also, including Danny Glover as the troubled cop made for one too many similarities to Seven.

"How much do you want to live?" the killer asks his victims. There is a moment which should have been made to work. The only survivor of the killer is asked by the cops how she feels about the killer. "He helped me," she responds. If we could have understood that better -- how the killer's reprehensible actions helped her turn the corner on drug addiction and turn her life around -- then the contradiction at the heart of the movie would have made it really fly. I hear the sequel is better.

Survivor Guatemala
One of the best seasons I've seen. Some really smart strategizing and a healthier balance of gamesmanship and moral pondering. In other seasons, losers whine that they were "lied to." Well, no shit. In this season—the most physically gruelling yet—most people realized they were playing a game. And then the real moral choices like Rafe's decision to let Danni out of her pact, were genuine and genuinely surprising. I truly belived him at the reunion that he wasn't sorry he had done that even though it probably cost him $1,000,000.

Comments

[rcornelius.livejournal.com]

i liked Saw as well!

In Sweden -- where the concept of survivor began -- they have always had to work super hard for the moment. one of these days they will all kill each other one of these survivor-style shows.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Do Swedes watch the American Survivor?

[rcornelius.livejournal.com]

No they don't have American survivor. But every survivor spin-off started from a show in Sweden called "Expedition Robinson". So they have had this show for a very long time from what I understand and the Swedes were all happy to see the show exported to other countries under other names.

But it begs the question...are there legions of castaways somewhere, all doing extreme reality TV programming. It's like a bizzare gillian's island of some sort...

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

The Swedes love exporting their culture. And we're glad they do it, (he says listening to ABBA in his IKEA chair).

[yoella.livejournal.com]

I hated Saw. I really really really hated Saw. It started out good, and I like the premise behind it, but by three quarters of the way through I wanted to chuck something at the screen. The plot got more and more out of control, the acting suffered, and by the end, when he's sawing through his leg I was literally shouting at the screen "OH MY FUCKING GOD DIDN'T YOU JUST TELL THAT OTHER GUY TO USE HIS SHIRT TO REACH STUFF INSTEAD????" All logic broke down and the twist after twist after twist eventually got to the point where they made no sense in the context of the film and existed solely for the sake of having another damn twist.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I know, I know... but you pays your money you takes your chances with B horror. I look for the glimmers. Maybe I should set my sights higher. The only real moronic thing was the whole Danny Glover arc. That made no sense and added nothing except a lame-looking car chase.

SPOILER ALERT: The killer rising at the end was chilling and the movement he made as he slammed the door had the frisson that resonates beyond the movie that I look for. I love the fact that the killer is himself dying.

Want to get fucking creeped out? Rent a German movie called Funny Games.

[yoella.livejournal.com]

Yeah, despite my contempt for the four preceding twists and turns, I did like the very ending of it.

And I DO want fucking creeped out, so I believe I shall rent that this weekend. Thanks for the rec.

[kuriadalmatia.livejournal.com]

I did enjoy Survivor this season, especially the mini-Immunity idol. Rafe played a fantastic game -- what? four individual immunities? Genuinely liked by the tribe but smartly allowing Steph to take the heat for all the decisions.

And when he lost concentration in the final immunity challenge, it was heartbreaking to see because I know that he would have outlasted Steph. It would have been more of a challenge for the jury, I think, than landsliding the victory to Steph.

Best of all, he didn't eat the chicken!

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

As a short person, it pissed me off that the final immunity challenge was rigged in Danni's favor.

And I also liked that Rafe didn't eat the chicken--I thought Steph was a total pig for doing that (I say from the comfort of my warm house with fully stocked fridge).

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I don't think the creators imagined the final immunity would end up with the competitors in that final position, leaning against the pole. Of course, the ropes should have been adjusted to height, shouldn't they have? I called Danni as the winner of the challenge before they even got to the beach. I figured she had stamina and will power which is what the last challenge is always about.

I would have eaten the chicken, but I would have said a brucha first.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Hi. I miss you.

[mentalmakeup.livejournal.com]

How does the Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim think he can get away with his name?

By being super fucking hot.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Well, okay. I'll grant you that.