Ahhh, here we are, late on last weeks movies and RIGHT ON TIME for this week’s movies. That’s right, I’m writing reviews for films that come out this week… THIS WEEK! Unfortunately, it’s a short list. I don’t get to review The Weatherman although I really wanted to, because I simply didn’t get a chance to watch it. What you get, for this week, is two films. Both of which I liked a lot.
- Okay, I’m a sucker for musicals. They don’t make them much, anymore, which makes any new musical on film a treat; it’s fun to see one, even if I think it sucks, just because I so rarely get the opportunity. There’s also the fact that I’m a lyricist by trade, albeit one that doesn’t actually ever make any money at it. I love wit and wordplay in lyrics, and musicals have always been one of the greatest places to find such things. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a musical that didn’t have at least one or two lines that made me desperately wish I’d written them; there’s something about being forced by the format to actually make plot happen via song that makes for absolutely brilliant writing.
Rent had a couple of those moments. The basic plot? A bunch of people with AIDS are broke as hell and trying to make ends meet in NYC. They’re all artists, and mostly stereotypes as well, from film-geek to rock-star. They all live in this building they can’t afford to rent, and their arch-nemesis is a dude who was once their friend who married into money and now owns the place.
Despite the fact that AIDS was probably the dominant theme, it ended up seeming almost background to the ‘universal’ issues the film touched on, like the definition of selling out, and the old stand-by, love, in a couple of different variations. The basic message is one of refusing to buckle under pressure from soulless society, and making the most of every day. Depending on our mood, those are both things we can all agree with, right?
Technically, the movie was well-done, I think. I liked the cinematography, and the way it was almost a throwback, at times, to the shot-composition of the bad ole’ days when people were still directing films as if they were stage-productions. The costuming was pretty spot-on with the archetypes the characters were playing. Pretty much all the technical aspects were competently handled, as is the norm for Hollywood productions these days.
The vocal performances were all good, but I will say that it was blatantly obvious they were coming from the stage. In my opinion, musicals on the big-screen should not have the same feel as a musical on stage where you have to really worry about projecting (for the audience, or for the mic, depending on your level of technology). There should be more nuance, and you should end up with something that sounds like a song, not a musical number. There were a couple of moments where I just sorta wondered why they hadn’t bothered to do it a little better/differently, especially when the singers hold notes.
Other than that small complaint, which was only applicable a little bit of the time anyways, I loved the film. If you like musicals, you will probably dig this one too. If you do not like musicals… I doubt this one’s going to change your mind. It’s very much a standard sort of affair, which will appeal to you only if you like that standard sort of thing. Despite being billed as a rock-opera, there’s not much in the way of rock here, excepting one or two musical numbers.
- Wow, I expected to dislike this movie and it totally kicked ass. Works as a straight-up action film, but it’s complicated enough to keep you guessing - and keep you wondering what’s going to happen - that it works as a crime drama or a suspense type flick as well.
Keira Knightley stars as the titular Domino Harvey, who is based on a real woman who unfortunately died right before the film was done - daughter of an actor, raised in the glamorous world of Hollywood and modeling, hated it and ended up becoming a bounty hunter. ‘Based on’ is key; as far as the main plot goes, I’m pretty sure it never happened. But it’s well conceived and executed. There’s a bit of background mess that tries to describe why she ended up choosing the line of work, but it’s very minimal. Most of the movie describes one particular job.
The cast is great, with Mickey Rourke, Christopher Walken, and Lucy Liu all in important supporting roles. The direction is very artsy/edgy in the way that I’ve come to associate with music-video directors moving into feature-film direction, but thankfully it’s not overpoweringly so; it complements the action, and forms an integral part of the story-telling, rather than overshadowing the story and ruining the experience.
Complaints? Well, like I mentioned the ‘background’ bit is very sketchy; it takes maybe 3 minutes of total screen time to go from ‘Little girl who loves her daddy’ to ‘I’ve been training for years, I can fight, and I don’t care if I die.’ I think I probably would have disliked the movie if they’d tried to make me sympathetic towards the poor-little-rich-girl, so I’m glad they didn’t bother, but if they were going to bother at all with ‘explaining’ the way Domino turned out, they should have done a better job.
One thing that wasn’t so annoying to me, but might be to others, especially old ladies who read mystery novels and try to solve the crime before the end: in order to ’surprise you’ the directory likes to lie to you. As stuff gets revealed, you find out ‘Oh, that thing they just showed didn’t ever happen,’ which could get really annoying depending on your personality.
Still though, I actually recommend Domino without reservations. If you’re in the mood for a decent action flick, pick it up. It was as fun as Transporter 2, but not as stupidly over the top. In a lot of days, it reminded me of the 80s, the action-movie hey-day that produced so many iconic films. It’s not that good, but it’s a step in the right direction after the dreck that’s been so common these past few years.