1star: so bad its funny
2stars: terrible/avoid
3stars: eh
4stars: good/decent
5stars: yet to see one
Ok, right off the bat: I hadn't seen the musical or anything else before the movie. So I was forced to take the movie for what it was: a movie. (dear god, no!) But in spite of that - or because of it? - I enjoyed the film. It's nice to see actors having to do some "old style" (as my friend says) work: singing and dancing.
Disclaimer: this would be 4 stars if not for the goddamned soundtrack. I have not heard such oppressively melodramatic movie music since Mahler 7. Everytime someone got up and talked about Freedom or The Land or whatever The Hell s/he was fighting for, there were the bloody sweeping strings and noble horns! The acting was melodramatic enough not to require such accompaniment. And I'm not complaining just because the music was melodramatic - it was BAD melodramatic - there can be good melodramatic (it's called Bruckner), but this was too much.
That aside, I didnt think the movie was too bad - from the reviews, I was expecting something god awful. I suppose some people are offended that a movie(book) attempted to show the South from an un-nazilike angle. Again, I have not read the book, so I can't rant about how unlike the book the movie was. Although.. I can guess it was more action-oriented and melodramatic than the book, eh? Some of the battle scenes were quite.. long and detailed. Gentle film goers (hah) should avoid this one. But from my reliable sources, it seems that the movie was quite historically accurate - and I dont think the New York Times should dare accuse it of flaunting its historical knowledge - why shouldn't we appreciate a movie that enjoys throwing in historically ACCURATE details rather than inventing Hollywood-style nonsense (like The Patriot?). Anyway, kudos to a movie that's not scared to be about a Southern general -and historically accurate as well!
The Matrix movies: a series of films for kids who have never had to sit through a philosophy class. The first film seemed to toy with the Cartesian question of 'what is real?' This one tries to make us think about free will. Let me demonstrate:
SmugCharacter: We are ALL part of the Causal Chain! You cannot escape determinism because it is pre-determined!
PersonInLeather: NOOOOOO - I DO HAVE FREE WILL!!
(Then they have a really cool fight sequence, with lots of dancing).
That's the Matrix for you. It was like watching a really cool video game with a 'plot' being playing by a skilled master. Good times for my generation. The costumes were interesting too; however this Halloween every kid is going to be dressed in shiny leather or long flowing dresses. Also, Keanu Reeves has one facial expression: blank stupidity. Luckily for him (or us), Neo wears sunglasses a lot and gets to ask naive questions of the smug characters. That said, you'd think the smug characters would not act so surprised when he continues to give them the stare of blank stupidity. "I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet, Mr. Anderson..." - but is he really? Come on, Elrond..
I think the best part of my Matrix Experience was when the old man next to me started to snore during the Oracle scene. "Good God," I thought, "five minutes of actual DIALOG and they're snoring." So yeah, no stars for the attempted philosophizing, but 3stars for black costumes and video game-like effects.
Yes, I saw this after Matrix, but then, my movie-going depends on my friends anyway. Ok, to start: the movie made a good first impression because it used the Dies Irae from the Verdi Requiem during the opening sequence. It was really chopped up - I didn't see the need for all the editing, but hey, it was there. The movie, though, went downhill from there (in terms of music) because everytime we saw Magneto we had very cliched classics. Mozart 545? Eine Kleine?? What is THAT?! Were they trying to be facetious?
Obligatory soundtrack remarks aside, it was a nice summer action flick. It was enjoyable.. it was like "X men impressions, by your favorite Hollywood stars." Yay for Floop; and the old men are always amusing. That said, the movie opens a lot of subplots and doesn't anything with them. Not even 'subplots' but 'brief hints that there is might be more to the movie than saving the world.' Oh well, maybe this means I'm supposed to read the comics? Maybe I'll just reread LOTR...
All right - summer action flick with a plot! Why complain about this movie having nothing new? This is the summer of "genre action flicks." You have the next quasi-philosophical matrix film, a bunch of superhero flicks, the token car racing movie, a B horror movie - this one just happens to be the heist flick of the summer. And it does well. It actually built up to the climax, unlike some other movies (ahem, matrix) which randomly throw action at you. You WANTED to see the mini cooper chase scene by the time they got around to it. Mark Wahlberg didn't look quite as stupid as he did in planet of the apes, but he still has the underwear model strut. He needs to get rid of that, especially if he's trying to play the 'mastermind.' When I first heard about this movie, my immediate reaction was "Why is MARK WAHLBERG the mastermind??? What's Edward Norton then?" - playing the same role he did in the Score, apparently, but instead of the mentally deficient/covering for sleaze ball now he gets to play act the loyal partner/covering for sleaze ball. At any rate, he knows how to slink about and wear a mustache like a real bastard. In general, they've "all done very well" as Young Mr. Grace would say. The movie just goes to show that you can write a bunch of cliches and be amusing nonetheless. Some of the plot holes are entertaining in their own right: "Where'd the other minis come from?" and "why does Edward Norton have the only helicopter in LA?" and of course the best question of all "wait, why is Marky Mark the mastermind again?" But its good summer fun, and there are mini coopers after all.