Tag: catch-up reviews

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B movie, that’s all you are to me

Dan Seeger

Get Smart (Peter Segal, 2008). So mechanical that it quickly becomes depressing. This launch of a new film franchise based on the sixties TV spy spoof–it’s nearly impossible think of it in terms of a single film rather than the beginning of an ongoing endeavor–is assembled from repurposed parts and spectrum-spanning cast members designed to make sure there’s at least one person in the credits that appeals to any randomly selected potential moviegoer. Anne Hathaway, playing Agent 99, has one moment that she plays with admirable commitment to honest emotions. I’m assuming that her castmates consulted with her after that … Continue reading B movie, that’s all you are to me

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Wasting time, dropping lines like “I could get you into movies”

Dan Seeger

Atlantic City (Louis Malle, 1980). Malle’s film is about the ways in the which the glimmers of remaining light at the end of the day can lure the most desperate into believing it’s actually the unexpected emergence of a new dawn. Burt Lancaster plays the old-time small-timer at the heart of the film, conveying his forlorn desperation and self-deluding rejuvenation with great delicacy. You can feel the character shift as his opportunities the become the big operator he’s always fancied himself begin to come to pass. But the film is about reality rather than aspirations. Malle keeps it all grounded, … Continue reading Wasting time, dropping lines like “I could get you into movies”

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I dreamed i was in a hollywood movie and that I was the star of the movie, this really blew my mind

Dan Seeger

Somebody Up There Likes Me (Robert Wise, 1956). By all accounts, this is the film that made Paul Newman a star. The most intriguing thing about that is that his performance here has little of the charismatic verve that drove later work in films like Hud or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It’s a thick, meaty character piece as Newman plays boxer Rocky Graziano as his pummels his way from backstreet destitution to the heavyweight championship of the world. Newman brings integrity to his character’s brutishness, subsuming his natural sparkle in favor of a honest portrayal of simpler man. … Continue reading I dreamed i was in a hollywood movie and that I was the star of the movie, this really blew my mind

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Here comes the movies with dialogue so cool — why did they never tell me to speak like that in primary school?

Dan Seeger

Breaking and Entering (Anthony Minghella, 2006). Unexpectedly standing as the last feature film from Minghella, Breaking is evidence that we’ve lost someone from the dwindling population of directors interested in crafting films for grown-ups. With its tricky plot, its examination of delicate matters such as the growing chasm between economic classes and its unapologetic willingness to let the messiness of life seep into its framework, it’s hard to imagine that anyone ever expected this to become a substantial earner at the box office. Yet there it is, playing out with delicate insight and unfussy emotion. There’s a quiet ache to … Continue reading Here comes the movies with dialogue so cool — why did they never tell me to speak like that in primary school?

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Outside it’s a bright night, there’s an opera at Lincoln Center, movie stars arrive by limousine

Dan Seeger

Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981). De Palma is a fascinating figure to me. He emerged with the film school generation of the seventies, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg, indeed earning the most rapturous reviews bestowed upon any of them by the grand doyenne film critic of the era. To this day, there are a fleet of people who will proudly stand up and talk about every scrap of his output as if it were the needs to be studied with the unwavering attention usually reserved for the peak offerings of Welles or … Continue reading Outside it’s a bright night, there’s an opera at Lincoln Center, movie stars arrive by limousine

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Hollywood, you got a lot of pretty things, I saw a lot of movie stars with diamond rings

Dan Seeger

Divorce American Style (Bud Yorkin, 1967). I had my reasons for watching this, but expectations of quality wasn’t one of them. That’s fortuitous since hints of quality were hard to come by in this comedy steeped in creaky examination of social issues. Four years before he transformed television with All in the Family, Norman Lear copped an Oscar nomination (with Robert Kaufman) for penning this screenplay that centers on one man careening towards divorce from his combative wife. The film’s point of view is scattered and confused, seemingly in an attempt to cover every bit of ground in consideration of … Continue reading Hollywood, you got a lot of pretty things, I saw a lot of movie stars with diamond rings

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Like an old late movie show, you’ve seen it all before

Dan Seeger

The Other Boleyn Girl (Justin Chadwick, 2008). Chadwick’s feature directorial debut suffers from many of the problems that make costume dramas one of the most dreaded of film sub-genres. It shoves needlessly complicated castle intrigue to the forefront in place of thoughtful plotting and intricate characterization. It is marked by static visuals that accomplish little more than sustained examination of the efforts of the costume designers and art directors. And actors emote wildly, flinging words aimlessly at one another with little apparent interest in finding depth in the language. Simply, it entirely forgoes imagination and probing details in favor of … Continue reading Like an old late movie show, you’ve seen it all before

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The movie star, well she crashed her car, but everyone said she was beautiful even without her head

Dan Seeger

Syriana (Stephen Gaghan, 2005). For his sophomore directorial effort, Gaghan returns to the sort of multi-thread, big issue storytelling that won him a screenwriting Oscar for Traffic. The result is dense, resolutely intellectual and dramatically inert. The unapologetic complexities of the film are admirable, but Gaghan almost entirely ignores the human element. Even the few details seemingly intended to flesh out the characters beyond their pawnlike roles in the major schemes of international intrigue come across as mere convolutions. As a treatise on the current ways of the world Syriana has some power. It could have used some more adept … Continue reading The movie star, well she crashed her car, but everyone said she was beautiful even without her head

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Pivotal film, selling out your monkey

Dan Seeger

In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, 2008). The acclaimed Irish playwright follows up his Oscar-winning short film with a feature debut about a pair of hitmen laying low in a Belgian tourism mecca. The film is enjoyable, charged by a flinty wit and features a pair of winning lead performances by Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. It’s also fairly inconsequential, structured with the shrewd storytelling insight of a seasoned dramatist but somewhat wanting in depth. All of the characters feel like pieces instead of completely realized creations. None of the relationships have resonance, causing problems as the twists of the plot require … Continue reading Pivotal film, selling out your monkey

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Smile like they do in movies

Dan Seeger

12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957). Lumet’s feature debut is a master class in shot construction. Contained almost entirely within a tight jury room as twelve men engage in deliberations over a murder case that grow increasingly heated, Lumet manages to make the visuals dynamic without resorting to trick shots. Instead, the film is filled with expertly staged and blocked sequences. The camera slyly follows a character as he moves about the room, catching the quiet reactions of everyone else, the facial expressions of those in deep consideration telling as full of a story as the words they share. Henry … Continue reading Smile like they do in movies