Change Your Image
Peter-175
Reviews
King Kong (2005)
A wonder of a movie
I just saw a free press screening of "King Kong." I had not really seen a preview for it, and I had no expectations for it- though the original is one of my favorite films. I don't know if something kooky just came over me during the 3 hour length of the movie, but I walked out feeling like I saw one of the most amazing films I've ever seen... And yet... I want to warn you about seeing it. I have never heard so many swear words in a film in my life, at least not in a film that families will obviously flock too. There must have been between 30-50 "Jesus Christ" "Christ" and "GodDamns," with JC and C taking front of the line. I hear Jesus' name taken everyday of my life, and realize I can do nothing about it, so hearing it in a film is not much different. But when I see a movie that I imagine my family seeing, I start counting them in my head. And why the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and his co-writers are so obsessed with swearing in a film like this was beyond me. I can't imagine families and Christians walking out of "King Kong" not feeling very displeased with that. It's really too bad, because aside from corny dialog (which the original also had) and some moments of trifle acting (thought many moments of good acting), and some unfortunate scenes full of MTV style camera work... it was unbelievably entertaining, directed with beauty and precision. I really don't think a movie has given me such blatant thrills since I was an unjaded child. I held my breath, clenched my fists, leaned forward and backward... It actually wore me out. And it nearly even moved me to tears, which is when I really thought there was something wrong going on with me, until I heard some sniffling among others in the theater.
Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000)
WHAT THE HECK IS THIS.
Holy cow. This movie is ridiculous. I'm so frustrated at trying to figure out which Hindi films are worth buying and which ones are pathetic. It seems like almost every review section for a Hindi film has comments like "The best film Ive ever seen" and "The worst movie of all time." How does someone unfamiliar with all these movies know what to believe? Well, I've seen 3... Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, and this one. Lagaan, aside from an overly long cricket game, is a very sweet and charming film. You can't go wrong with it. Dil Chahta Hai grew on me. It started off as a really bad, MTV-like movie and then it redeemed itself with a little bit of depth and one of the most beautiful sequences in sight and sound I've ever seen or heard- Wah Ladki (something or other) You know it if you've seen it- it's where the whole movie theater flaps their arms up and down. And the song makes me want to jump up, dance, rejoice and cry, all at once. The dancing on that song is spectacular and the filming is equal. But Dil Chahta Hai is pretty corny at times- a little too corny- and forgive me, but even though it's a more male-to-male friendly culture, there are some parts that seemed SOOOO homosexual. But its good qualities are hard to ignore. Now comes my 3rd Hindi film experience with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. I have to tell you... this movie manages to include TV SOAP OPERA, DRAMA, COMEDY, MYSTERY, ACTION, MUSICAL, 60s BEACH PARTY MOVIE (Remember Annette and Frankie?) EPIC (due to length) and of course FOREIGN FILM. Where they would place this film at a Blockbuster Video store is anyone's guess. I can't even figure out what I feel for this film. What do I tell you? Maybe I should tell you that I rolled over and laughed out loud more than once, and more than I have in a long time at a movie (Last time I laughed like that was in the Japanese "Spirited Away" and before that, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye.") Maybe I should tell you that I was in disgusted awe of all the blatant product placements that are shoved against the screen for more than a few moments (Coca Cola, Nokia, and countless others)? The movie is embarrassing to watch? The cinematography and directing are a cross between a really terrible television program (e.g. Baywatch) and Moulin Rouge. If you are trying to read the English subtitles, you know that there is something missing- that they are not well translated. You feel like you are watching a really cheesy commercial for about 3 hours (When the gigantic coke signs appeared at the end of the film, while the main actor is singing and dancing on stage like an overgrown Backstreet Boy, I swore the film finally made sense- it was a 3 hour Coke commercial!) The movie is extremely cheery though. It is colorful- and the scenery on the island is gorgeous. There was so much of that wonderful scenery too, and so I appreciated some things that I know I'll never get to see in an American film. But how does one explain a movie where a guy poops in his pants and it falls out (unseen) on the floor, where Santa Claus appears like a madman on a cruise ship, where the main character dies and you think its the end of the movie but then it says "INTERMISSION," where the last third of the movie is full of action sequences that completely destroy everything that came before- where the plot makes absolutely no sense and you know that the writer and director had to tack on an extra hour of nonsense to meet the 3 Hour Quota for Indian films. Where a grown man dreams of being a Backstreet Boy and sings a tune that will get stuck in your head since it's repeated through the whole film. I don't know what to make of this movie. Its ridiculous; its badly acted. Badly directed. It's terribly written. It wants to copy American films, but doesnt know which one to copy, so it copies every single one- but is so bizarre that it is nothing like anything in American cinema. And yet I want to watch it again because I can't believe I saw what I saw.
Pinocchio (2002)
Miramax Destroys A Great Film.
Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful" is one of my family's favorite movies. It is one of those rare films that we all agree on. My sister, dying of brain cancer, named her new cat "Principessa" after seeing the film, and so there is a loving and spiritual feeling associated with Benigni. My sister would have been sitting right next to me in the theater on Christmas day, but she is now immobile and has lost her eyesight. So instead, I brought two of my reluctant friends to see Pinocchio, which I have waited patiently for, since reading about it in The NY Times two years ago. During the first 10 minutes, one friend leaned over and whispered "This is torture." I felt embarrassed for taking them to this instead of "Gangs of New York" which is what had been requested. I felt so embarrassed, that I crept out into the movie theater hall to see if anything else was playing. I returned with the good news that "Lord of the Rings" was starting in 30 minutes and we could sneak into it. But then a funny thing happened. My friend who hated it took a nap, and my friend who knew how much I had anticipated this movie, and was too afraid to tell me he hated it too, sat quietly with me. The corny slapstick that began the film quieted down, and I began to appreciate what I was seeing. Beautiful colors, beautiful scenery, and a very fine telling of the Pinocchio story- although I would have liked to see the relationship between Pinocchio and Gepetto focused on a little more. I let my friend sleep, and for a very long time during Pinocchio I smiled... and smiled. I felt warm. I laughed a few times too. And when I left the theater I turned to my friend who was still awake and said "I loved this movie." Now what I didn't love was the version of the movie that I saw- and probably the reason my friends and I felt so uncomfortable sitting through this film. Miramax has SLAUGHTERED a treasure of a film by dubbing in voices (We spotted Regis Philbin, Queen Latifah, and Cheech Marin among them.) The worst dubbed voice of all, if you can believe it, is Roberto Benigni's. "Pinocchio" is essentially a Benigni film- if you love Benigni, you'll appreciate this movie. If you can't stand him, then I don't think this will win you over. You will be irritated that a small puppet-boy is represented by a middle aged man with a freshly shaven face. Though you will still respect the look of the film. Miramax should be ashamed of its company. What possible reason do they have for denying us subtitles, and the magical charm of Benigni, and replacing those with an obnoxious voice? Especially after "Life Is Beautiful" with subtitles intact, went on to become one of the biggest foreign film profit makers of all time and win two Academy Awards. I am anxious to see this film again, when I can find it in its original form. I have also heard that Miramax swiped out a few darker scenes, in order to make it family-approved. For a few moments I blocked out the voices and just concentrated on the actors. I imagined their voices, their Italian accents. And the film flew to a whole new level. I'm surprised that Miramax didn't turn the real Italian landscapes into computerized, animated backgrounds while they were at it. Which reminds me, I loved the whale in this film. I wish they had shown more of it. My friend who stayed awake said "I would like to see it again with the real voices." My other friend who woke up for the last 20 minutes said "It had really great colors." And I say, "What a wonderful Italian movie turned to crap by an American company."
All the Little Animals (1998)
Best Movie I've Seen This Year
First, I want to say that- if you are by any chance the director or writer or producer or anyone who worked on this film, please contact me for a job working with you, I want to work in film and this is a prime example of what I love to see at the cinema. I was in luck that, for the Palm Beach Film Festival, one of the films was cancelled and "All the Little Animals" was substituted. I have always loved Christian Bale's acting, and he is really great in this one- but the entire film is beautiful and captivating. The cinematography is gorgeous, from the streets of London to the forest where much of the film takes place- I especially loved a castle resting magically on a hilltop and dreamlike sequences where Bale's character is floating down a river holding a fox. This is indeed a film about little animals- mainly ones that are found dead on the street. This is a risky film in that it tries to balance fantasy and adventure with true horror (I guess that qualifies it for the "classic" fantasy genre of story books in which the endings were not always happy and the events were sometimes brutal)- making it very questionable for small children. I have rarely been so shaken by suspense at the movies as I was toward the awesomely climactic final scenes here. There is a human villain in this film who is so outrageously, perversely evil that he will come off as a joke for those who are not scared to death by him. I was. John Hurt is quite wonderful too, as an old hermit who befriends Bale. I do not want to spoil the plot- but I will say that it involves many a dead animal- and the moral theme that animals are as beautiful, if not more, than people (from the giant beasts down to microscopic ones). I got the feeling half way through this film that the late Jim Henson would have loved this - it is not unlike the "Storyteller" films that he directed for television in the late 80s, in which John Hurt played the narrator. In fact, the Hurt character is quite similar to the one he played in those as well. Here is a film that is great to look at, terrifically acted and written, and very moral. It is the best film I have seen yet this year.