You’ll like this movie if you like
- dazzling special effects
- Ridley Scott
- The origins of Alien
As for me, I’m a little tired of being dazzled by special
effects. I’d like to be dazzled by story
every now and then. L.A. Confidential,
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Star Trek come to my mind just in that 30
seconds.
Yes, Prometheous is dazzling if not engaging. A space mission late in this century,
presumably after space exploration has been privatized because the US
There are a couple of really good scenes, and a lot of
average ones, but as with most hi-tech movies, the digital effects are pretty
cool. Once again, if you like video
games, you’ll like this movie.
Savages – 8
- Oliver Stone
- Blake Lively
- Blood and Drugs
At least this movie has a story, albeit farfetched. Two male drug dealer partners in California
Selma Hayak plays the ruthless Mexican drug lord who doesn’t
care for the guys turning down her partnership proposal. She kidnaps the girl and they have to use
both their brains and brawn to recover her.
The movie is fairly interesting, although it certainly is
graphic and distasteful in many parts.
It’s well scripted and well acted, until the last five minutes which I
couldn’t have hated more. To tell you
any more would be more of a spoiler than Oliver Stone himself provides.
The Amazing Spiderman – 4
You’ll like this movie if you like
- Repetitive action
- Long movies
- Emma Stone
This movie was horribly misnamed. It should have been The Endless
Spiderman. After 3 decent movies, and
this totally unnecessary reboot (the Hollywood word meaning “we are totally out
of original ideas and are just going to keep shooting the same story over and
over again as long as you schmucks will buy tickets.”) I can officially make
the following declaration: I have spent
enough of my life watching Spiderman swing like Tarzan through the streets of New York
Andrew Garfield is properly anguished but not terribly
interesting in the title role and even the infinite charisma of Emma Stone and
a few impressive 3D scenes can’t save this lumbering exercise in repetition. 3D seems to have been made for the kind of
person who wears sunglasses indoors.
Most of the scenes are just too dark.
In summary, I have no idea why this movie was made, but I’m sure sequels
are coming and I will be swinging in the other direction.
Now for something that really ticked me off. Every 10 years Sight and Sound magazine polls critics from around the world to name the greatest movie ever made, and they’re making a big deal out of Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo dethroning Citizen Kane at the top in the 2012 poll.
You can read the list of their top 50 here: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time
I was never that enamored of Citizen Kane, but as a huge
Hitchcock fan, I’m appalled at their choice of Vertigo. It’s not even his best movie. I always found the movie boring, and I didn’t
feel it held up particularly well. I never bought the love story aspect of the movie, although I
certainly sympathized with Scottie’s fear of heights. It was widely panned when it was released,
but for some reason has grown in stature over the years. I don’t get it, and I don’t think Hitch would
either.
So, just to clear things up, here’s my ranking of my
favorite Hitchcock movies. Get your
Netflix ready:
- Psycho
- Rear Window
- Rebecca
- Notorious
- North by Northwest
- The 39 Steps
- The Lady Vanishes
- Strangers on a Train
- The Birds
- Suspicion
- Shadow of a Doubt
- The Man Who Knew too Much
There you have it – my dozen best Hitchcocks and now you
know why I wasn’t a film critic. I don’t
even consider Vertigo one of his 12 best.
Let me know what you think.
Meanwhile - in the HBO does it again category - Are you watching The Newsroom? Aaron Sorkin gets to write in a little (just a little) profanity into his latest wonderful story. A little too much interpersonal drama, but incredible contemporary commentary. Check it out.
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