Flipside Movie Emporium

[beltmann]

12/19 - 12/25/05

None. See what happens after you get a career and kids? Sucks, man.

This week I'm hoping to have time for Narnia, Kong and Brokeback Mountain. Fingers are crossed.

Eric
_________________
"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[beltmann]

12/26 ? 12/31/05

My last post in this 2005 thread. In preferential order:

Munich (Spielberg, USA 2005). Spielberg takes on another event integral to 20th-century Jewish history, but what separates Munich from Schindler?s List is its moral complexity and risky political stance: Revenge isn?t justice, and retribution only perpetuates the neverending cycle of violence. That?s not a new idea, but what?s neat about Munich is the way Eric Bana credibly internalizes the spiritual toll of vengeance; his psychological odyssey mirrors the way entire nations can damage their own souls. (Most fascinating is how the rationalizations given for the assassinations are nearly identical to the ones made by Black September, the PLO, al-Qaeda, or the Bush administration to justify their own unlawful acts.) Plus, even Hitchcock would have envied this brilliantly calibrated thriller.

King Kong (Jackson, USA 2005). Another huge Peter Jackson movie that is thoroughly impressive all the way through while never being thoroughly enjoyable. I had a pretty good time, I guess, but I was still grateful when this cumbersome, repetitive, overly solemn adventure was finally over. Plus, for me the CGI often detracted from rather than enhanced the verisimilitude, never more so than in the dinos-running-in-the-valley sequence, which reminded me of The Blues Brothers, and not in a good way.

Bad News Bears (Linklater, USA 2005). When it comes to Linklater I?m a true believer, and when it comes to baseball movies I?m admittedly indiscriminate?but this remake is instantly forgettable.

9 Songs (Winterbottom, UK 2004). Minor Winterbottom, but in between the bouts of graphic sex are nine live music performances: Von Bondies, Elbow, Primal Scream, Dandy Warhols, Super Furry Animals, Franz Ferdinand, Michael Nyman, and two by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Eric
_________________
"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment