Alright, I’m back for some more mini-reviews. I’ve noticed that so far all of the reviews have been positive with the grading easily all being in the 7-9 range. At first this concerned me as it felt I may be just too generous of a reviewer---However, I’m now convinced that I’ve just been lucky enough to find films over the past month that really appeal to me and have managed to avoid those that didn’t.
After the mis-step of The Life Aquatic (which, admittedly, greatly improves with subsequent viewing) Wes Anderson is back in my good graces with his latest, a colorful road movie that adheres to his strange-family-dynamics mixed with quirky humor/art direction formula.
However, I think it may be time for the director to retire the slow-motion walk signature shot before it degrades into self-parody---since I believe his next film is a stop-motion adaptation of The Fabulous Mr. Fox, that shouldn't be a problem.
9/10
Here is a film that has actually benefited greatly from the 20+ day separation of my viewing of the film and blogging about it.
Here is a note I wrote on Facebook immediately after returning from the theater:
“The first and last half hours of this revisionist western (aren't they all nowadays) are some of the best you're likely to ever see in the cinema. The other hour and a half, while absolutely gorgeous, suffers whenever the electric Pitt and Affleck aren't sharing the screen.”
10/10
When I did the list of ten films I was psyched for earlier this year, I mentioned that the marketing for this garnered the reaction 'Now THAT looks like a movie..." out of me. I’m glad to say the film wasn’t a disappointment and Washington, Crowe, and Scott all delivered the goods that are now expected from them.
Denzel is such a likeable actor the film really has to choice but to, in a way, glorify the drug trade, reminding me of Brian DePalma’s Scarface at times (a film I’m admittedly not a fan of). A few shots addressing the sickly effects of drug use are probably meant to counter this, but I still got the bad feeling that 15 years from now the fashion of choice for aspiring rapper wanna-bees will be three-piece suits. Well, at least they’ll look presentable.
With its populist appeal and big-names, I wouldn’t be surprised if American Gangster was this year’s The Departed come Oscar time.
8/10
Bee Movie
As a fan of Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up and sitcom, I was really hoping Bee Movie would prove to be a true classic of the talking-animal CGI animation genre. Instead, it’s a likeable enough entry that will probably appeal to adults a bit more than it will their children. There are a handful of good laughs and the character designs are cute, but ultimately it suffers from a bit of identity crisis regarding who its target audience should be. The humor is at its best when it’s slightly dark (which is surprisingly often) and the plot, centering on one bee’s quest for legal compensation for the human race’s use of beekind’s honey, will probably go over most kids’ head.
6.5/10
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