My RSS Feeds
Fall Movie Review Roundup: Blindness, Eagle Eye, Lakeview, Elegy, I.O.U.S.A.
Before I get to the big holiday December Oscar flicks (I've seen pretty much every one of them, and let me just tell you - prepare to be disappointed time and time again!), I thought I'd play a bit of early Fall catch-up with films I should have written up months ago - brief thoughts on movies that I really only have brief thoughts about:
BLINDNESS (C+)
What happens when the world goes blind? According to Blindness - rape, rape, and more rape! Beautiful to look at but deeply flawed, Blindness starts with a fascinating premise, works like gangbusters for 20 minutes, then deteriorates quickly into mass hysteria and in-your-face unpleasantness. A queasy mix of Lord of the Flies and 28 Days Later. And rape.
LAKEVIEW TERRACE (B)
A surprisingly effective thriller from director Neil LaBute. He didn't write this one (David Loughery and Howard Korder did), but it dives into his big obsessions - race, class, cruelty, sex, and sexuality. Interracial couple (nice work by Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, who is one of the top five or six most beautiful women in film today) moves in next to unbalanced and anti-interracial-relationship cop (Samuel L. Jackson, wisely underplaying for the first time in a while). Thrillery hijinks ensue. Not as juicy as a LaBute-scripted take on the material would have been, but mighty tense, really entertaining, and doesn't explode in the third act, like most thrillers these days.
EAGLE EYE (C-)
Big, loud, dumb, this is Tony Scott Lite, which is to say so Lite it barely exists. I continue to enjoy Shia Lebeouf, who is shaping up to be one of the best young actors we've got. (Although who's his competition, Zac Efron?) He grounds this nonsense as best he can. Billy Bob Thornton is a welcome addition to the cast, and lights things up when he's around. But this is a pretty lame flick, and the tacked on message at the end is a) glaringly obvious and b) about five years too late.
ELEGY (B-)
An occasionally gripping May-December love story. Strong performances from Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz (who showcases her glorious breasts, FYI), but a lagging pace and a rather forced and maudlin third act "twist" keep it from being a real success.
I.O.U.S.A. (B+)
Really solid documentary that couldn't be more timely. It was released a few months ago, and - get this - predicts that America is headed for financial ruin! Uh...good call, fellas! I saw it before things completely fell to shit, and it scared me plenty, I imagine watching it now would cause a lot of sad, uncomfortable laughter and sighs. Had this found a larger audience...it probably still wouldn't have changed anything. But it's still essential viewing for anyone who wants to know exactly how our country got into this catastrophe. And no, it's not entirely George W. Bush, he was just the match on a huge pile of oily rags.
Nice concise shotgun entry. I have still seen like none of this.
I remain unaware of what an RSS feed is. I apologize. Glad you're loving
the show, I appreciate it. By the way, since it seems you and I are the
only two people chatting it up on here today - I'll be in STL next week. We
should get a drink/coffee/meal/hot air balloon ride.