In theaters and on Netflix
Jul. 25th, 2009 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariOn the 4th of July, Other Kenjari and I went out to see Public Enemies. It was a disappointment, but Johnny Depp was very good and rescued the film from being a disaster. Christian Bale, on the other hand, was surprisingly flat. My biggest problem with the movie was that it lacked a sense of direction or drive. I felt like it showed us a bunch of events but failed to have anything to say about those events or to create a sense of a larger story. There was also a tragically missed opportunity to set up any kind of compelling conflict or relationship between Dillinger and Purvis individually or between Dillinger's gang and Purvis' FBI team as groups. If the film had succeeded better on any of these points, I would have been able to forgive the camera work, which I often found too close in and tightly framed.
I saw The Last King of Scotland via Netflix, and really loved it. Forest Whitaker's performance as Idi Amin was absolutely Oscar-worthy. He gave a very complex and nuanced portrayal of Amin - he achieved a combination of charisma, bonhomie, danger, and menace that was both compelling and unsettling. James McAvoy was also very good, and I definitely want to see more of Kerry Washington, who played Kay Amin. The film also makes really good use of the fact that while Garrigan takes quite some time to realize what Amin really is and what is really going on, the audience starts out with that knowledge.
Last night we watched The Third Man. I very much need to watch more classic noir. I love the mystery and intrigue, and the slow unravelling of plots and schemes. Also, The Third Man is referenced by a lot of other films, most notably Miller's Crossing. I'm also pretty sure that Warren Ellis' comic Planetary references the film, too. I almost always find it gratifying to see the source material for images and dialogue that I've encountered in many other movies. Plus, The Third Man has some surprisingly surreal moments - the elderly balloon seller, the landlady who complains incessantly in German, Harry Lime's fingers reaching up towards the night sky through a sewer grate.
I saw The Last King of Scotland via Netflix, and really loved it. Forest Whitaker's performance as Idi Amin was absolutely Oscar-worthy. He gave a very complex and nuanced portrayal of Amin - he achieved a combination of charisma, bonhomie, danger, and menace that was both compelling and unsettling. James McAvoy was also very good, and I definitely want to see more of Kerry Washington, who played Kay Amin. The film also makes really good use of the fact that while Garrigan takes quite some time to realize what Amin really is and what is really going on, the audience starts out with that knowledge.
Last night we watched The Third Man. I very much need to watch more classic noir. I love the mystery and intrigue, and the slow unravelling of plots and schemes. Also, The Third Man is referenced by a lot of other films, most notably Miller's Crossing. I'm also pretty sure that Warren Ellis' comic Planetary references the film, too. I almost always find it gratifying to see the source material for images and dialogue that I've encountered in many other movies. Plus, The Third Man has some surprisingly surreal moments - the elderly balloon seller, the landlady who complains incessantly in German, Harry Lime's fingers reaching up towards the night sky through a sewer grate.
