In keeping with the “delayed” theme of this week at Son and Foe, I managed to not write my review for the 7th until today, today being the 12th. Jeremiah’s always got some good excuses: well, my only excuse is that I was too busy watching movies to sit down and review them. But I think I’m finished with everything I felt like seeing that came out this week, so here are my impressions.
Elizabethtown (Widescreen Edition) : The critics all gnashed their teeth together over this one; most of the complaints I read seemed to be that the story was all over the place and didn’t focus on one aspect, and that the love-story shouldn’t be there. To the first, I must say “It didn’t have to; I myself am multifaceted, and I don’t mind when my movies are too.” To the second, I can only assume that it was the knee-jerk reaction of professional cynics. There are a number of contrived love-stories in the AFI’s top 100, and as far as I’m concerned, a love-story that’s well-contrived is perfectly alright. That said, Elizabethtown’s not going to make anyone’s top 100 list. It’s totally watchable, though, and I found watching it to be rewarding; I not only didn’t think it was a total waste of my time, I rather enjoyed the time I spent watching it. The romance aspect was low-key but nice, and in the end the whole damn thing ended up cheesy but moving. The absolutely killer soundtrack may have had something to do with that; even the Reviewstapo are full of praises for the music.
Doom (Unrated Widescreen Edition) : This one was disappointing. I’d read that it sucked, but hoped that it was just more effete assholes trashing genre-flicks. Unfortunately, it really does pretty much suck. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s definitively un-good. Very much a disappointment, as I loved the game, and love the atmosphere of the game as well. Plus, the game has to do with demons from hell, which I like. They took that whole aspect out of the movie, making it a mediocre action/sci-fi venture that will disappoint the hell out of anyone over the age of, say, 13.
Daltry Calhoun – This looked like something I would not want to see, sort of a crappy new-era National Lampoon’s deal only without the questionable (read: nonexistant) legitimacy that even that bestows, these days. But it said at the top “Executive Produced by Quentin Tarentino” and while I do not believe that man is god, I think he and I are often on the same aesthetic wavelength. So I gave it a shot. It was cool. Juliette Lewis reminded me of her scenes in Natural Born Killers featuring her home-life (acting-style, not subject-matter wise), and Johnny Knoxville did a good over- and under-the-top sorta thing that I found delightful.
Wallace & Gromit – The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Widescreen Edition): This was hilarious. If you have seen the shorter works, you know generally what to expect. I found it funnier than the stuff I’d seen before, and I liked the stuff I’d seen before a lot. The rabbits are absolutely cool as hell, and there’s a Snoopy vs. the Red Baron sequence that was absolute genius. If you haven’t checked ‘em out before, this is a great entry into the wonderfully claymated world of Wallace and Gromit.
Well, that about does it for this past week. If I am able to keep my Scheiße together, you can expect an update on films of note coming out this week, namely Saw 2, Zathura, and Mirrormask. Sometime this week, you will also get one of my usual-style in-depth looks at Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, which will let you know exactly why you should do everything in your power to see the damn thing, cuz’ it rules.