SteveSilver.net: a blog about movies. sports, news, technology, politics, pop culture, comedy, fatherhood and much more: At The Movies

February 21, 2005

At The Movies

I’ve seen quite a few movies lately, so I thought I’d do a quick roundup:

- “Million Dollar Baby” may very well walk away with the Best Picture Oscar next Sunday. I finally saw it last week (Ebert talked me into it), and I’m distinctly of two minds: I loved the characters and storytelling, thought Eastwood’s performance was the best I’ve ever seen him give and Morgan Freeman’s not far behind, and liked the fight scenes as well. And it wasn't nearly as overrated as Clint's previous Oscar-bait film, "Mystic River."

But on the other hand, I just didn’t get the “this film is brilliant” vibe that so many others did- to call it “the best boxing film ever,” as Sports Illustrated did, is ludicrous- and I thought the last act, while moving, just piled it on a bit too much.

Moreover, I was disappointed to see a director as smart as Eastwood resort to the sort of condescending white trash-bashing that’s become so common in Hollywood films, which I can't help but think is aimed at making urban, "sophisticated" audiences feel good about themselves (see also, every Michael Moore film; Todd Field's "In the Bedroom"; Alexander Payne's "Citizen Ruth," "About Schmidt," and even parts of "Sideways"). Take the scenes in 'Baby' featuring Hilary Swank’s loathsome, greedy, welfare-cheating trailer-park family. Now imagine if all the same lines had instead been spoken by black characters- could that film ever be made?

That said, the movie was likely completely ruined for me because I knew the ending going in. Damn you, Michael Medved!

- “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” is the fascinating but ultimately frustrating documentary about what used to be one of my favorite bands. I say “used to be” because the band members are now middle-aged, dissension-plagued, and not particularly relevant anymore. The film takes the fascinating premise of a band that’s been together for 20 years -and produced such aggressive metal hits as "Kill 'Em All" and "Enter Sandman"- hashing out their internal conflicts with a therapist while recording their 2003 album, “St. Anger.”

But the whole thing is undercut by two things: it’s WAY too long (almost two and a half hours), and the music being currently produced by these guys completely, utterly, sucks. It’s almost redeemed, though, by Lars Ulrich’s Gandalf-lookalike father, the only person in the movie who actually acknowledges the “this music is horrible” elephant in the room.

- “The Village” is one of the few universally regarded flops that’s somehow even worse than the conventional wisdom suggests. M. Night Shyamalan’s fourth film (notice each is worst than the last) spends its first two thirds as a particularly obvious, Chomskyite allegory of the war on terrorism that leads to the Michael Moore-ish conclusion that either the terror threat doesn’t exist, or that it does and was created by those whom it threatens. Then, the “surprise ending” invalidates both the film itself and the allegory. Sloppy, as well as insulting. But what do you expect from a movie that couldn't even get the year right in its ad campaign?

(The film got one vote in the Village Voice critics poll, from a guy who called it, you guessed it, “a more lucid attack on American political subterfuge than even ‘Dogville.’” The film’s detractors, critic Michael Koretsky writes, “require re-education.”)

- “In Good Company” was an honest, realistic film about the corporate world that had a lot to say and said it very well. Good performances by Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Malcolm McDowell (revisiting his Caligula past to play a Rupert Murdoch-like mogul); also nice to see Scarlett Johansson seduce someone her own age for once.

My one quibble? In a late, pivotal scene, the director for some reason switches to EXTREME CLOSE UP on all the characters. What’s up with that?

I'll be doing similar roundups for music and books later this week.

Posted by Stephen Silver at February 21, 2005 11:31 PM

Comments

Your criticism of Eastwood for his depiction of white trash in M.D.B is bogus. What do you propose, that every character in every movie be a bland, plain middle class suburbanite. IT'S A MOVIE! Whose feelings are you looking out for? Owners of double wides? Where do you draw the line as far as which groups need to be protected if you're apparently going to make white trash a minority group.

Posted by: at February 22, 2005 03:21 AM

I liked Million $ Baby very much. I don't share your criticism. Although, I wouldn't call it a boxing movie; I think it's a movie that happens to have boxing as a background. It's not really about boxing at all.

And I just watched The Village on DVD yesterday. I figured out the "surprise" in the beginning, so it was pretty disappointing.

Unrelated, except that it's about movies: I saw The Station Agent this weekend and liked it a lot. If you like character-driven indies, you'll like it.

Posted by: C at February 22, 2005 08:33 AM

Who cares about Million Dollar Baby, what's even more sad are people who leave comments and don't even leave a trace of who they are...as well as those who thinks its OK to leave your baby at home asleep while you go to the store to get your newpaper...whose the IDIOT now???

Posted by: A at February 22, 2005 10:17 AM

I fully agree about MDB. Terrific perfs (can't go wrong with a Morgan Freeman voiceover), but draggy at the end, and also ruined for me by bloggers. (First time since I started blogging that I can say that.)

The ads for The Village gave me nightmares. When I finally saw it on DVD a few weeks ago, I was embarrassed by having had those nightmares. Far more entertaining on that DVD was M. Night's boyhood film starring himself in an Indiana Jones-style knockoff. And that wasn't even THAT entertaining.

And re- "Ebert talked me into it"-
You're such a name dropper. Don't believe me? Paris Hilton told me so.

Posted by: Esther at February 22, 2005 10:28 AM

I think M. Night Shyamalan is the most over-rated director to come out in the last ten years or so. You get the sense from interviews with the guy that he believes his films to be a lot more subtle than they really are. I liked The Sixth Sense enough (though after watching it a couple of times, it starts to get slow and boring), but everything he's done since then has been terrible.

Posted by: Emily at February 22, 2005 11:17 AM

"Sloppy, as well as insulting."

just like ......

BUKKAKE!

Posted by: LilB at February 22, 2005 12:39 PM

Esther, I don't know you but you are SOOO right..stop the name dropping Steve!!! Die Bloggers Die!!!

Posted by: A at February 22, 2005 02:38 PM

"Ebert talked me into it."

Couldn't Ebert have talked Steve into it via Steve reading an incredibly poignant review?

(Of course we all know that's not what Steve meant, but come on here people, benefit of the doubt!)

Posted by: LilB at February 22, 2005 05:23 PM

So, is it agreed that Steve must now post a public apology for his blatant name-dropping?

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