enaretea Blog

The other night, my wife and I watched Pursuit of Happyness. I had heard it was a good movie, but I wasn't nearly as interested in seeing it as my wife was. However, I have to give credit to Will Smith. I don't know why he continues to surprise me as an actor (probably because he was in those Bad Boys movies), but he does. His charm and charisma always shine through in his roles. He doesn't look like a movie star in this film, but he performance is sincere and heartwarming. Perhaps that has something to do with performing opposite his son. I don't think I would've gotten as much out of these movie if I wasn't a new father. His character's motives throughout the story are very clear: everything he does and decides is to make sure that his son has the best possible life. I love his character's confidence in himself, but also his vulnerability. This movie did make me feel a bit down in the dumps, and it doesn't hit the inspirational heights of Rocky-formula movies. In fact, it's a relief more than anything when Smith's character, Chris Gardner, inevitably comes through his trials. The Chris Gardner character works his tail off to do what he must and to get what he wants, but his belief in himself hardly wavers. He's like a guy climbing Everest, cycling in the Tour de France, or doing any other endeavour in which self-doubt can destroy you; the kind of man that makes me (and probably most people) feel incredibly lazy.

Thank goodness! The Prestige is a terrific movie and I thank great goodness for that. When the movie was released that fall it was on the top of my must-see lists. However, my new born son doesn't let me get out to the theatre as much as I used to, so I had to wait until it came out on DVD. We finally got around to having a free evening and the movie was at the videostore, so we rented. Ever since Memento, I've had very high expectations from Chris Nolan. As such, Insomnia ultimately disappointed, but Batman Begins blew me away. Now, The Prestige... so, so, so good. The two leads are terrific. Christian Bale just gets better and better. He smolders, he looks dangerous and angry, is tender, is funny, is smart. As for Hugh Jackman, there is no danger of him being typecast as Wolverine. In fact, the more I see of him, the less Wolverine I see (which means when I see Wolverine, I see only Wolverine and not some singing, dancing Aussie actor). Michael Caine, as with Children of Men, shows why he is one of the greatest movie star actors of all time. The movie looks fabulous and it full of atmosphere, interesting ideas, and surprises. The only real complain I have is with Scarlett Johansson. She really didn't add anything to this movie. In fact, I wish another actress had been cast so that I was distracted by the expectation of young Scarlett. But, that is trivial. Well done to Chris Nolan and everyone who was involved in the making of The Prestige.

This afternoon I watched Jarhead. Hmph! Jarhead is not a bad movie, it just suffers from it's subject matter. It wants to be about something, it thinks the Gulf War was about something, but it wasn't. All that pseudo-philosophical rhetoric about a marine and his rifle and the desert and still being in the desert even after you come home and who else but a marine will see the stuff they saw in the Iraqi desert. It's the kind of writing that college kids write. It sounds really smart the first time you put it down, but later it shows up as shallow (kind of like my filmblog posts). The best part of this movie is the scene where the marines are watching Apocalypse Now. I was just as disappointed as them when it was abruptly switched off. This movie is not Apocalypse Now, it is not Full Metal Jacket, it is not Three Kings. It is a desert of a movie.

I watched Scoop with my wife and her best friend at home the other weekend. I wasn't expecting much and got less than that. While Hugh Jackman was kind of charming and Miss Scarlett was gorgeous, the whole thing was souless and empty. Woody Allen has missed the mark before, but this was just the work of a man killing time in London, looking for an excuse to spend more time with his current favourite actress. Match Point was a return to form for Woody Allen. It was well-acted and had thought behind it. Scoop has neither of those things. There is also no sense of place in this movie. Perhaps Woody Allen should stop trying to entertain himself so much and try entertaining his loyal audience.