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Aug. 8th, 2006 03:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enthusiastickSummer movie round-up (so far)...
Clerks II -- 3 1/2 stars -- A poetic ode to best friendship, I actually felt bad that I ended up seeing this without either![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sleetfall or thablueguy. Despite what some critics say I think Kevin Smith knocked this one out of the park. Its captures the spirit of an era and a time in a slacker's life just as well as the original did.
An Inconvenient Truth -- 2 stars -- I'm not a registered Democrat, but you have to ask yourself, where was this Al Gore during the 2000 presidential debates? This Al Gore is warm, personable, funny and entirely un-robotic. This film puts you in touch with his personality as a husband, a father, a Southerner and a passionate environmentalist all at once. And, asdippy423 pointed out, it also co-stars the former Vice President's Mac laptop.
Lady in the Water -- 1 star -- To quotecassielsander's uncle, "I can't defend it, but I like it." I have this thing for modern fantasy, and since Mirrormask is apparently as close as I'll ever get to a Neil Gaiman story on the big screen, I went into this one predisposed to like it. And I did like it, although I am forced to admit that it was heavy-handed and hit a number of wrong notes.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -- 3 1/2 stars -- I can't say anything that a horde of fanatics hasn't said before me. I squee'd. Repeatedly. It did get a little on the long side. I wouldn't have cut any of the action sequences or swordfights, but I might have shortened them. And speaking of swordfights, what is the obsession with fighting while rolling across the landscape?
A Prairie Home Companion -- 3 stars -- This film isn't much more than a collection of excellent performances from a star-studded cast, but in an era of increasingly crappy and unoriginal movies there's something to be said for that. The script isn't perfect, although it does capture the spirit of APHC as well as it possibly could have. Its weird to ually see GK's face while listening to his voice tell stories.
A Scanner Darkly -- 2 1/2 stars -- Robert Downey Jr. saves this film from itself at every turn, although he's forced to ratchet up the crazy ramblings of his paranoid character every time in order to do it. I liked the rotoscoping for this film better than some of the critics but I'm forced to admit that the movie wasn't as effective as it could have been. It got across one message well, maybe two, but the book had about three more it missed entirely.
Superman Returns -- 4 stars -- Its almost staggering how many direct references to the original Christopher Reeves Superman director Bryan Singer manages to cram into 154 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I have the same trifling complaints about this movie as everyone else: too much dialogue, too few action sequences, etc. But I loved this movie, utterly, it brought me back to my childhood and sent me rocketing out of the theater believing a man could fly. What more could I ask for?
Clerks II -- 3 1/2 stars -- A poetic ode to best friendship, I actually felt bad that I ended up seeing this without either
sleetfall or thablueguy. Despite what some critics say I think Kevin Smith knocked this one out of the park. Its captures the spirit of an era and a time in a slacker's life just as well as the original did.An Inconvenient Truth -- 2 stars -- I'm not a registered Democrat, but you have to ask yourself, where was this Al Gore during the 2000 presidential debates? This Al Gore is warm, personable, funny and entirely un-robotic. This film puts you in touch with his personality as a husband, a father, a Southerner and a passionate environmentalist all at once. And, as
dippy423 pointed out, it also co-stars the former Vice President's Mac laptop.Lady in the Water -- 1 star -- To quote
cassielsander's uncle, "I can't defend it, but I like it." I have this thing for modern fantasy, and since Mirrormask is apparently as close as I'll ever get to a Neil Gaiman story on the big screen, I went into this one predisposed to like it. And I did like it, although I am forced to admit that it was heavy-handed and hit a number of wrong notes.Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -- 3 1/2 stars -- I can't say anything that a horde of fanatics hasn't said before me. I squee'd. Repeatedly. It did get a little on the long side. I wouldn't have cut any of the action sequences or swordfights, but I might have shortened them. And speaking of swordfights, what is the obsession with fighting while rolling across the landscape?
A Prairie Home Companion -- 3 stars -- This film isn't much more than a collection of excellent performances from a star-studded cast, but in an era of increasingly crappy and unoriginal movies there's something to be said for that. The script isn't perfect, although it does capture the spirit of APHC as well as it possibly could have. Its weird to ually see GK's face while listening to his voice tell stories.
A Scanner Darkly -- 2 1/2 stars -- Robert Downey Jr. saves this film from itself at every turn, although he's forced to ratchet up the crazy ramblings of his paranoid character every time in order to do it. I liked the rotoscoping for this film better than some of the critics but I'm forced to admit that the movie wasn't as effective as it could have been. It got across one message well, maybe two, but the book had about three more it missed entirely.
Superman Returns -- 4 stars -- Its almost staggering how many direct references to the original Christopher Reeves Superman director Bryan Singer manages to cram into 154 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I have the same trifling complaints about this movie as everyone else: too much dialogue, too few action sequences, etc. But I loved this movie, utterly, it brought me back to my childhood and sent me rocketing out of the theater believing a man could fly. What more could I ask for?
