Rick's filmBlog

Disappointing

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Munich (2005)

I really loved the first 1/3 of this movie, but it eventually fails. The performances are great but I thought it was eventually crushed under the weight of the "seriousness" it was trying to achieve. It simply goes on for too long, and feels extremely out of its own depth. The obsession with food (preparing, sharing, eating), violence, and sex just comes off as...sophomore year of film school.

All that said, I will admit that I loved the (tiny bit cheesy) 70's international locations, the overall historical intrigue, and the "Papa" character.

Posted Wednesday, January 31, 2007 2:47 PM by Rick | with 0 comments

Somewhat Overrated

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Babel (2006)

First of all, Iñárritu's film certainly doesn't lack in scope. While I do think that altogether a bit it's overrated, I very, very much enjoyed the globe-spanning reach of Babel. The whole "everything is connected!" theme has been (in my opinion) beat to death, but Babel does manage to pull it off somehow. This is counterbalanced in my opinion by a continuous frustration that I felt with the characters because of the continuous stupid decisions they made, seemingly only to create more dramatic tension. But despite these plot driven character decisions , I thought that Babel was still somehow grounded in a reality that you seldom see in film. There's an attention paid to locations and cultures that's far superior to most Hollywood films. So in all good but not great, mainly due to my frustrations with plot.

Posted Wednesday, January 31, 2007 12:55 PM by Rick | with 0 comments