The Ghost Writer is a perfect test my stated ability to separate the personal from the professional when it comes to the arts. Not being a big fan of fugitive rapists clearly I'm not enamored of Roman Polanski, the person.
Polanski the director?
That's a different story.
(more…)
Drag Me to Hell is like watching Sam Raimi puke out the megaplex cooties he gained by working on the Spider-Man movies. It's not a classic on the level of Evil Dead II or Army of Darkness but it's got a lot of the key elements that made Raimi a real favorite around these parts. It's funny, gross, wild and violent. In other words, my kind of movie.
My biggest problem with it is I didn't actually like any of the characters. There's no Ash to pull for throughout. Instead we have the slightly unpleasant pair of Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) and Clay Dalton (Justin Long.) they're not the worst people in the world, but they're also not all that appealing. So when terrible things happen to them there's no emotional punch to back up the pure joy of Raimi's creative approach to horror + comedy + violence. Which isn't to say I needed this film to be Ran, it's just nice to feel something for the characters on screen from time to time, no matter what insanity is happening on-screen.
Still, it's worth checking out if just to remember why Raimi gained a cult following and why we should all celebrate his return to horror.
Me, that's who.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about and don't really care, here's a sketch. Check it out and then you can be on your way knowing I gave you at least something of value today.
I liked the book. As a movie, Shutter Island, manages to illustrate just how preposterous and insane the book really was. This isn't necessarily a good thing. The madness of the book, brought to the silver screen in this particular manner, loses its appeal pretty rapidly. It's all taken so seriously by Scorsese that the fun of it is drained out and all we're left with is a big pile of crazy.
Not fun crazy.
I went in wanting to like it. It's just… goofy? There are some gross bits, and some creepy bits, and some scary bits, but overall it's just doesn't capture the page-turning excitement of the book. This is the kind of book I stay up all night to finish. The movie?
Not so much.
I did see this at the Lux Level in Dedham, which helped make it an enjoyable night on the town. I just wish the movie lived up to the amenities…
How far behind am I on movie reviews? I saw The Last Station around Valentine's Day.
sigh
Anyway, this was a surprisingly good Valentine's day film. Surprising because it's about the last days of Leo Tolstoy and why on earth should a film about the end of Tolstoy's life be a good Valentine's day film?
It is.
It's a well acted, well written, and deservedly complicated story of personal love, public personae and the legacy of one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.
(more…)
