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Reviews
The Grind (2012)
What Just Happened?
Brit gangster movies can be enjoyable, but this one was simply too tedious and confusing for me. I really wanted to like it. Closer editing would have condensed the story into a crisper 30 minute presentation. The production team was obviously going for gritty street realism, and it showed. It is truly regrettable that I have to produce ten lines of text for this review to be posted, but here goes. The characters were one-dimensional; "Dave" did not come across with the gravitas one seeks in a cinematic villain; Bobby was not tragically flawed, merely tragic; the soundtrack was even more grating than Dave's tire iron; viewers will struggle to differentiate major, minor, and other characters. Would I be spoiling if I recommended that readers not invest any wealth, interest, emotion, or time into this movie? I give it a 5 because I still can't figure out what happened, and that which did happen might have been good to other viewers. Or maybe not.
Be Cool (2005)
It Hurt the First Time, but........
Waiting for the sequel to "Get Shorty" built up a lot of anxious energy that went to waste with this seemingly underachieving effort. I saw it during the first run opening and left wondering what happened to the magic.
Gold mines of potential were squandered when you consider the possibilities of The Rock, Vince V, James Woods and Cedric taking the original up to the next level. And Chili said much more than he had to, twice.
That being said, once you get over the shock of what could have been but wasn't, my second viewing a year later was more enjoyable. This is the kind of movie that was meant to be consumed as a homage to a homage to a parody.
Not having the benefit of a backstage pass, I can only assume that the set was an exercise in barely concealed belly laughs as the second viewing unveiled a more textured application of the script than I had previously noticed. Some of the timing, set details, characterizations and other nuances revealed themselves and gave me a different appreciation that, maybe, more collaborative craftsmanship had gone into this than I suspected.
By the end of the second viewing, I got it. The sense of fun did not translate effectively onto the big screen with the polish and panache of "Get Shorty," but there were plenty of nuggets for the viewer to mine.
I am upgrading this one to a seven with the heartfelt sorrow that Elmore Leonard has no more Chili Palmer adventures on the bookshelves.
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Some Facts to Go With This Ham
Cynical Everyman Michael Moore does yeoman's work in his latest attack on "The Man." Sensational, yes, but in an eagerly awaited installment of our great social debate, our man fires blanks in a target-rich environment. We have been served one man's Jihad for more self-absorbed attention and box office returns wrapped in an MTV bun without the fixings.
In this episode, instead of General Motors or the NRA, Mikey's sites are set on a branch of American Royalty, the Bushes, and his emotionally-based conclusions, like the dog, just don't hunt.
Production values have improved with Mikey's journey along the road to truth, justice and the American Way, but a once promising sage of our nation's foibles has lost his way. Like a Robert Ludlum novel, he sees conspiracies, and like Ludlum in his older years, the contrived and artificial story line has become tedious in the telling.
America's favorite counter-culture millionaire has thrown gasoline on the flames of self-righteousness. If the topic wasn't so serious, the scope and breadth of this film would pass as a national lampoon of the first order. As it is, Mikey has so muddled the facts that the most compelling discussion of our day has slipped the grasp of this once grand story teller. He coulda, woulda, shoulda, but didn't.
I winced when Elvis took the stage in later years, a diminished reminder of the brilliant talent that once was. I give Farenheit 9/11 a very disappointed *1/2 out of **** stars with the * going to the memory of the King.
Silmido (2003)
Dirty Dozen meets Eagle Has Landed meets Gauntlet
As the South Korean movie industry matures, more of their feature movies should become of interest to mainstream western audiences. Silmido is one of these movies.
The Korean peninsula continues to experience behind-the-scenes low intensity engagements between the two nations. Set in the 1960's, the nK strikes at the ROK leadership and prompts a response. The KCIA sponsors the formation of a special army unit to strike back at Pyongyang. Comprised of civil prisoners and other outcasts, the movie follows their formation, training, and deployment.
The film covers a great deal of cultural ground. The viewer gets a sense of the male-dominated, hierarchical government with its intrigues and power brokers. The spartan living conditions, training and discipline are not inconsistent with ROK practices. The motto used in the film - "Loyalty" - illustrates the conservative bent of the military system and the social schism which exists between it and the South Korean people at large. The film could have used "Strength and Honor" from Gladiator to the same effect. As a code of behavior, the concept of loyalty is the thematic underpinning for the major plot turns.
While lacking some of the pacing and plot roll-out elements of first tier film efforts, Silmido still delivers an interesting story line and succeeds as an action movie. It offers a harsh indictment of the government's leadership, not unlike American Viet Nam conflict movies, and the viewer is left with a perspective of Korean soldiers as army ants whose sole function is to live and die protecting their society.