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July 5, 2008
ANDYTOWN'S FEW MINUTE MOVIE REVIEWS
By now you've either seen IRON MAN or you haven't. I hadn't until Monday, when I celebrated a completed (read: error-filled) rough draft of my thesis by catching the 4:00 Matinee of the latest Robert Downey Jr. star vehicle. Downey's presence makes this worthwhile for someone like me, who feels that the studios are converting the least interesting superheroes into big screen stardom. I didn't know much about Iron Man. He was a guy who wore an iron suit and he could fly, that's it. And in the trailer, the Black Sabbath stand-by was used, which was sure to be a bad sign. Jon Favreau has directed about four movies, none of them very good. Nothing about this made me think I'd like it.
And lo and behold I did. It's at least as much fun as the first SPIDERMAN, and its special effects didn't leave me bored. To say that Downey is perfect for this type of thing is the understatement of the mega-verse: he's absolutely crucial to the success of the film. There may be nobody better in the world at reading dialogue than this former coke-hound / WEIRD SCIENCE co-star.
IRON MAN, like the recent surprisingly good HULK, plays on that classic Promethean theme: how far can go before we transcend the limits of the gods. I like the way Iron Man suggests both possibilities, rather than just a traditional cautionary tale. I also like that Tony Stark, easily the most interesting super-hero alter-ego I've ever met in a movie, has room to fall and fall hard. What's left is a movie with a pretty good story, if a few unnecessary scenes (I'm confused as to why Terence Howard is in this movie, for instance). But this movie has heart - seriously; it's one of the key plot points, and it's a series in which I'm eagerly anticipating the sequel.
HANCOCK, on the other hand, could stop existing right now and I wouldn't complain. It's not to say that the movie was bad. I am an unapologetic Will Smith fan, and have been since he became the voice of my generation by announcing what we all knew, that Parents Just Don't Understand. The more successful of the Fresh Prince/DJ Jazzy Jeff combo (to say the least), Smith is as charismatic a presence as is working in movies these days. I have a tendency to be suspicious of movie stars, but I love Smith. Here the object is to wrench him of his obvious charisma to amp up his watchability, and it works. Especially since he's pared with the brilliant Jason Bateman, playing a role tailor-made for his peculiar nice-guy gifts.
And yet the movie is not very good. It's endurable, even enjoyable, as an attempt at a post 9/11 Superhero (a refreshing element is that he doesn't tap into all kinds of familiar mythologies). But Peter Berg, who directed this, has yet to make a movie that deserves to exist on the merits of its director. Berg is flashy, loud, and likes to move the camera a lot, kind of like his mentor, Michael Mann (who exec-produces pretty much all his movies). And here the result is something that's so tonally awkward and yet utterly conventional that the weirdness was completely cancelled out by the conventions.
HANCOCK is getting some good reviews from unlikely sources (The New Yorker, The AV Club), yet I think it was rushed and silly. I'd be interested to hear from other viewers.
Here's an excellent review of both the movie and Smith at Time.
A few quick Netflix reviews:
EAGLE VS. SHARK - NAPOLEON DYNAMITE goes to New Zealand. Jemaine Clement (of the wonderful FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS) salvages the movie with his presence, but ultimately this is the type of thing that could build an atomic bomb of quirk. There are several funny scenes, but these movies are frustrating because they're so anti-cinematic. And I found the actress annoying, when I think I'm supposed to fall in love with her.
CHARLIE BARTLETT - Sucked. Everyone is saying it's a RUSHMORE knockoff and they're right, except this one has neither the charm or wit of that masterpiece. I found its precocious protagonist irresponsible and annoying when he was supposed to be our Huckleberry Finn. Robert Downey Jr. is good in every scene he's in, as he always is, but its another movie about teenagers that doesn't know anything about teenagers. A much better movie was ROCKET SCIENCE.
THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL - Was trash. I would be lying if I said I weren't intrigued by watching Natalie Portman play Anne Boleyn, but I'm also an Anglophile, and this is a period I'll be studying in my PHD program - so visual representations are an easy sell for me. As history, it was soap opera mixed with revisionism, a bad mix, but at least it could have been tawdry and compelling, which it wasn't.
BE KIND REWIND - Was mostly pure joy. It's a great double-feature for SON OF RAMBOW. It's kooky to the nth degree, yet Michel Gondry has fun with it, and Mos Def and Jack Black are as funny as they've been in a long time. Their remake of RUSH HOUR 2 is worth the rental alone. But it also says something about the type of movies people want to watch, versus the type of movies people make. And ultimately it's about nostalgia, loving memories, and the kind of goofball communities that movies like this celebrate (as opposed to, in the case of EAGLE VS. SHARK, denigrate and pick on for comic potential).
JUMPER - Was pretty much the stupidest movie I've ever seen. Why did Doug Liman (director of the first BOURNE IDENTITY movie) waste his time with this?
| By Andytown | 12:21 AM
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