dibot Blog

I'm super behind again.

I saw Sylvia on Lifetime, so I'm not sure how much they cut out of the film. I liked the mood and the way the film looked. It seemed to get more and more gray as Plath descended into her depression. Of course, Gwyneth Paltrow ("The Good Night") and Daniel Craig ("The Invasion") gave solid performances as poetess Sylvia Plath and husband Ted Hughes. I liked that as a biopic, it didn't try to encompass Plath's whole life, just the time from when she met Hughes to her suicide. But despite the good qualities, it just wasn't all that interesting.

Sublime is further proof that one should never blind buy no matter how cheep the DVD is. The plot sounded good. The day after his 40th birthday, a man goes into the hospital for a routine colonoscopy but things go wrong and the hospital isn't everything that it seems. Creepy hospital. Botched surgery. A recipe for success? Alas, no. The production was good. Very nice lighting and colors. A good dosage of gore. But the film moves slow. And it's needlessly confusing. I'm sure we were supposed to be feeling the character's frustration. But, instead, I got annoyed. And then the horror movie cop out that makes me the most angry. [spoiler] It was all in his head [/spoiler] Totally lame.

Year of the Dog starts out following Molly Shannon ("Evan Almighty")'s lonely life with only her dog as her companion. When he dies, her world is thrown into a spiral as she quests for meaning and purpose. This film captures the Shannon's loneliness of living alone and frustration of being surrounded by people who don't understand or support her passions, trying to force her into the mold they think she should fit. The sadness is mixed with a good dose of humor. And the plot went somewhere I never expected. A rare thing. I really enjoyed this film. This is the directorial debut for writer Mike White ("Nacho Libre") and I am very interested to see where he goes next.

The Seventh Seal is my second Bergman, and while Smiles of a Summer Night was an easy introduction, this film is much heavier and stranger. Netfilx calls it a "powerful meditation on God and the meaning of life." A knight, played by a very young Max Von Sydow ("Rush Hour 3"), returning from the crusades, meets death and challenges him to a game of chess. The game spans several days as the knight and his squire (the best character in the film) travel home and meet all sorts of strange people. Again, some of this film is very absurd and funny. But much of it is painful to watch. The cinematography and many of the shots are gorgeous. And I understand why this film is so famous, but I'm not gung-ho to watch it again.

The Warriors just makes me want to chant, "Warriors, come out and playay" over and over. Set in the future, all the gangs of New York gather for a meeting where one man tries to unite them against the rest of the city. He's assassinated and the Warriors are framed. The rest of the film follows them as they try to make their way through a hostile city back to their own turf. The really great thing about this movie are the costumes of the other gangs. Especially the Baseball Furies. Awesome. The synth music is everywhere and, I think, very influenced by the Halloween theme. It's gritty and really just a lot of fun.

So, No Reservations is pretty much average for a romantic dramadey. Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Death Defying Acts") plays a chef who has emotional issues and then her sister dies and she's left caring for her young niece, Abigail Breslin ("The Ultimate Gift"). Aaron Eckhart ("The Black Dahlia") is an up-and-coming chef who starts taking over at Zeta-Jones' restaurant. Hijinks. Emotions. Warm fuzzies. But ultimately forgettable. And I just don't think Breslin is that cute. Sorry. But it was nice to see Eckhart as a good guy.

I caught An Affair to Remember on AMC and was completely taken in by Cary Grant ("Walk Don't Run") and Deborah Kerr ("The Arrangement"). He's charming. She's beautiful. I love the love story. You just don't get many straight-up romantic movies nowadays. The tension of whether or not they will find each other again is real. Some of it was corny, but I didn't mind it. The stars are good enough to sell the scenes. Though, the bits with Kerr teaching the children to sing are a little much. Still, for me, this classic lives up to the hype.

After seeing the latest in the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard, I wanted to revisit the old movies to remember how it all began and if they were still good. As I watched, I came to the realization that the original Die Hard is the quintessential action movie. When we first meet Bruce Willis ("Planet Terror")'s John McClane, he's struggling with his marriage and his job. He's not a super hero. He just gets caught up in some extraordinary circumstances and does his best to save his wife and be a cop at the same time. Sure, he manages to pull off some amazing stunts, but Willis is easy to identify with. We feel that, maybe, if we were in the same situation, we could do it, too.

And Alan Rickman ("Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix") always plays a good bad guy. In this script, he's smart. A well matched adversary to Willis' cop. Plus, there's comedy. Not too much, but just enough wise-cracking to cut the tension between the dramatic stunts. Just all around good times.

Sadly, Die Hard 2 does not live up to its predecessor. The action is still good. Willis is still wise-cracking and charming. But the story is weak and William Sadler ("August Rush")'s villian lacks Rickman's charisma. I also missed the claustrophobia of McClane being trapped in one building, trying to outsmart the bad guys alone. In true sequel fashion, the action is bigger and the stakes are higher. But the film seems too long.

Die Hard with a Vengeance brings back original director John McTiernan ("Basic") and he is able to recapture some of the magic of the first film. This movie also gives McClane a sidekick in the form of Samuel L. Jackson ("1408") who is just trying to be a good Samaritan when he gets sucked into the drama. There are a few buddy cop moments between Jackson and Willis and they have good chemistry. The strong villain returns in the form of Jeremy Irons ("Eragon") who feeds the duo strange riddles and spends most of the film in a purple tank top. An interesting wardrobe choice. Not as good as the original, but still an entertaining afternoon.

Becoming Jane chronicles a pre-fame Jane Austen as she struggles with a forbidden love and whether or not to marry for money. Though I love Austen's books and most of the film adaptations, this film just did not have the same spark as those works of fiction. Anne Hathaway ("The Devil Wears Prada") stars as Jane and many of the scenes fall to her to express emotions with just her face and she can't always do it. James McAvoy ("Starter for 10") plays the love interest. He gives it his charming all. The film looks beautiful, but it's light. I didn't cry when I should have, I only laughed a little, and I've already started to forget the movie.

Stardust is a fantastical story about a young man who goes to find a fallen star, only to discover that it is not a rock but a woman, and the adventures that befall them as he tries to bring her back to his hometown to win the love of the local beauty. And that's just the basic outline. There are innumerable side characters and plots. All of the cast are strong and it's fantastical to watch. However, I felt that the lead, Charlie Cox ("Casanova") and the star, Claire Danes ("Evening"), just didn't have much chemistry. And since most of the story revolves around the two of them, that really hurt the film. But there's a lot to like here, especially Robert De Niro ("The Good Shepherd") in quite a twist on his usual persona and a group of commenting ghosts. Very entertaining, but it's missing some of the magic of The Princess Bride.