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JimBell

Member since 2/21/2007, last signed in awhile ago.
""For what it's worth""
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Personal statement: Sometimes a movie review can speak for, and to, a general viewer. Then the review should support what it claims. At other times, a review is clearly an idiosyncratic reaction to a film. Then the review should attempt to explain the personal viewer response. And at still other times, a review might examine a movie in the context of larger social issues. Then the reviewer should explain the connection and have something informed to say on the issues.
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Ratatouille
Ratatouille
Ratatouille
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
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 "Ratatouille is a testiment to how much people want thing to be the way they should be rather than the way they are. Rats have a "weak" sphincter on their urinary tract: essentially, they pee constantly wherever they go. This is handy for them staking out territory and leaving trails for their buddies to follow, but it is not an asset for them working in a 5-star restaurant's kitchen. " [More]

Re:Top 5 black and white movies ...
By JimBell in Top 5
"Due to the fantiastic respone to my previous posing, I must say that this is a great question Ris asked about b & w movies made when there was no longer any fashionable reason to make them. Anyone who has seen an Ansel Adams photograph (we all have, right?) knows that black and white can--may--convey something that colour cannot. In Clerks, the b & w worked beautifully for the security camera look. But in Good Night and Good Bye the b & w bought the movie leeway it did not deserve--the movie presented itself as profound when it actually took the easy way out and avoided tougher questions. Is a B & W movie any the less if you remember it in colour? I always remember The Man Who Wasn't There in b & w, but Paper Moon . . . sad to say I lost a substantial bet a few days after seeing this pic when I said it was in colour . . . well, I saw it in colour!!! But it does raise artistic and aesthetic questions about the role b & w plays in the movie. I'd say that Paper ... " [More]
Longford
Longford
Longford
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
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 "Longford (2006) is an excellent film. It is British in every aspect—writing, direction, acting, setting, and the events it is based on. This pedigree makes it more remote for us than the typical Hollywood fare and, in my view, it is far superior. Londoner Peter Morgan supplied a superb screenplay. In a field where writers typically have one or maybe two successful screenplays in a career, Morgan has, at 45, penned The Last King of Scotland, which won the BAFTA award, The Queen, which got him nominated for an Oscar, and Longford, for which he received the BAFTA writers award for TV. In Longford, things could have easily degenerated into sensationalism as the story concerns the gruesome murder of five children and how Lord Longford campaigned for the parole of Myra Hindley, the wife involved in the slayings. Yet the conversations seem real and natural, fitting easily with the documentary footage. Much of the credit for the natural pace and the profound acting must go to dire ... " [More]

12:08 East of Bucharest
By JimBell in FRESH
"Maybe you can help me with this one . . .12:08 East of Bucharest (2007) is the kind of film I would generally like—a dry, satiric social commentary. But this film disappoints, to put it mildly. The first third of the hour-and-a-half movie is useless, enervating, and could be mercifully chopped. Here’s what happens in the first part of the movie. A guy gets ready for a talk show he is hosting about the 1989 “revolution” in Romania. He phones one guest, a professor, who is hung over; he phones the other guest repeatedly but gets no confirmation. The alcoholic professor goes to class and gives this essay exam question: “The French Revolution.” He pays off debts at the bar and elsewhere. An old man who used to dress up as Santa Claus agrees to do it again in an emergency, and then is asked if he’d like to be the second guest on the television talk show. This sounds more interesting in the summation than it was in the watching. Once we get to th ... " [More]

Re:Year of the Dog
By JimBell in FRESH
"I appreciate the response. It got mixed reviews, so I appreciate your perspective.JIMBELL " [More]
12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Budapest
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
 "12:08 East of Bucharest (2007) is the kind of film I would generally like—a dry, satiric social commentary. But this film disappoints, to put it mildly. The first third of the hour-and-a-half movie is useless, enervating, and could be mercifully chopped. Here’s what happens in the first part of the movie. A guy gets ready for a talk show he is hosting about the 1989 “revolution” in Romania. He phones one guest, a professor, who is hung over; he phones the other guest repeatedly but gets no confirmation. The alcoholic professor goes to class and gives this essay exam question: “The French Revolution.” He pays off debts at the bar and elsewhere. An old man who used to dress up as Santa Claus agrees to do it again in an emergency, and then is asked if he’d like to be the second guest on the television talk show. This sounds more interesting in the summation than it was in the watching. Once we get to the amateurish talk and phone-in show, the ... " [More]

Year of the Dog
By JimBell in FRESH
"I liked Year of the Dog (2007), but, as someone said, it is woefully uneven. The key word there is “woefully,” because the core of the movie (mainly the script) is very good, but the execution is sometimes amateurish. I enjoyed the story, partly because I have a dog, but mainly because it has something worthwhile to say and says it in an unpredictable way. The movie makes the point that everyone is weird in some way, even those who seem extremely normal, and the main character, Peggy (Molly Shannon) is unusual in ways that are not as socially acceptable. Goodness knows, this point needs to made repeatedly in our society! Once Peggy’s little beagle dies of poisoning, do you think she’ll be happy to replace him with a German Shepherd? Once Peggy falls for the animal shelter guy, do you think he’ll reciprocate and they’ll live happily ever after with their dogs? No way! Peggy’s spiral into a nervous breakdown is convincing and believable. Whe ... " [More]
Year of the Dog
Year of the Dog
Year of the Dog
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
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 "I liked Year of the Dog (2007), but, as someone said, it is woefully uneven. The key word there is “woefully,” because the core of the movie (mainly the script) is very good, but the execution is sometimes amateurish. I enjoyed the story, partly because I have a dog, but mainly because it has something worthwhile to say and says it in an unpredictable way. The movie makes the point that everyone is weird in some way, even those who seem extremely normal, and the main character, Peggy (Molly Shannon) is unusual in ways that are not as socially acceptable. Goodness knows, this point needs to made repeatedly in our society! Once Peggy’s little beagle dies of poisoning, do you think she’ll be happy to replace him with a German Shepherd? Once Peggy falls for the animal shelter guy, do you think he’ll reciprocate and they’ll live happily ever after with their dogs? No way! Peggy’s spiral into a nervous breakdown is convincing and believable. Whe ... " [More]
2 Days in Paris
2 Days in Paris
2 Days in Paris
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
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 "2 Days in Paris (2007)—Could Judy Delpy (writer and director) learn anything from an old dead white guy, William Shakespeare? Lets compare the opening of 2 Days in Paris with one of William Shakespeare’s lesser plays (it was not even printed in his life time), a love story and comedy called As You Like It. The first day in Paris opens with Jack and Marion, a “couple,” catching a cab. The line up is long. Jack tells a huge group of fellow Americans how to get to the Louvre, so they leave the line, but he has misdirected them so that he can get to the front of the cab line. Marion finds this endearing. Arriving at the house, Jack, a New York interior designer, meets Marion’s flamboyant French mother, and he sort of helps Marion lug her suitcase up stairs. He criticizes her old bedroom and freaks out about mold in the bathroom—this designer is a hypochondriac. Marion looks bedraggled and explains how weird she was as a kid growing up in Paris. Are ... " [More]

The Darjeeling Limited
By JimBell in JimBell Blog
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 "The Darjeeling Express (2007). I wish people would stop obsessing about this movie being a “Wes Anderson” movie. Even the Rotten Tomatoes key line reads “Will satisfy Wes Anderson fans.” Ok, I realize that we all love films (I am passionate), and we want there to be an author as with novels (there seldom, but sometimes, is) and we want that author to always be the same (say some viewers) or grow predictably (say others) or change drastically to prove his artistic credentials (say yet others). I’ve got a radical suggestion: Let’s just watch the movie. For most of the 20th Century, the best critical brains in North America tried to persuade us to focus on the text—take your finger and push it down on the page to the exact words you are talking about. Since then we have seen that this is not the be all and end all of literary criticism. But is it still miles ahead of this Wes Anderson worship and hatred stuff that distorts most of what you rea ... " [More]

Re: Recommended movies that you ...
By JimBell in Viewing with a purpose
"Let's try a recent movie:2 Days in Paris (2007)—Could Judy Delpy (writer and director) learn anything from an old dead white guy, William Shakespeare? Lets compare the opening of 2 Days in Paris with one of William Shakespeare’s lesser plays (it was not even printed in his life time), a love story and comedy called As You Like It. The first day in Paris opens with Jack and Marion, a “couple,” catching a cab. The line up is long. Jack tells a huge group of fellow Americans how to get to the Louvre, so they leave the line, but he has misdirected them so that he can get to the front of the cab line. Marion finds this endearing. Arriving at the house, Jack, a New York interior designer, meets Marion’s flamboyant French mother, and he sort of helps Marion lug her suitcase up stairs. He criticizes her old bedroom and freaks out about mold in the bathroom—this designer is a hypochondriac. Marion looks bedraggled and explains how weird she was as a ... " [More]

Re: Recommended movies that you ...
By JimBell in Viewing with a purpose
"Yup, Ben, I had GREAT diffuculty finishing Fargo for many of the same reasons you list. " [More]

Lists

Films I've seen (430)
Films I've seen
Film Noir I"ve Seen (31)
Films I want to see (1)
Films I want to see
Neo-Noir Films I've Seen (15)
Films I want to buy (0)
Films I want to buy
The Best Movies I Saw in 2006 (0)
1. House of Mirth 2. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room 3. The Matador 4. An Inconvenient T ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2005 (0)
1. The Two Family House 2. The Story of the Weeping Camel 3. Hotel Rwanda 4. The Aviator 5. ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2004 (0)
1. Lost in Translation 2. Girl with the Pearl Earring 3. Matchstick Men 4. The Station Agent ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2002 and 2003 (0)
1. Iris 2. The Bourne Identify 3. The Pledge 4. Memento 5. Spy Game 6. Liberty Heights 7. Posses ...
The Best Movies I Saw in 2007 (0)
1. The Painted Veil (2006) 2. Blood Diamond (2006) 3. The White Countess (2005) 4. Who Killed th ...