Short Cuts

Thoughts on recent movies seen:

1. Half Nelson: Difficult to watch b/c of the drug usage depicted. Ryan Gosling is talented. This role is too easy for him though. He needs a bigger challenge. Also, he's still so young (25ish), and the lack of life experience shows, seems to set restraints on his believability in the role. The movie was not as good as I was expecting based on very positive reviews I'd read.

2. Zodiac: A plodding movie about obsession w/ (in the scheme of things) unimportant details and with the supposedly authentic-but-unexposed underbelly of modern life. As I watch this nearly 3hr movie about a serial killer who is basically a boring pervert, I think to myself, why in god's name would anyone care so deeply about this material? The fact that they do is disturbing, but not particularly interesting. Or entertaining. David Fincher forgets that movies are in part about entertaining. For some movies, their only goal is to entertain. I would argue that its ok for movies to strive for more than simply entertainment. But remember that too little entertainment in any work of art subtracts from overall quality and certainly subtracts from the public's interest/engagement w/ the material.

3. Volver: An enjoyable movie by Almodovar. Penelope Cruz is really a nothing actress, but she can be quite cute and even sexy. The best thing about the movie is the artfully told story and the supporting characters. It's not a pretentious effort like Talk to Her, which is also something to applaud.

4. Cutter's Way: Forgotten gem from early 80s w Jeff Bridges and John Heard. Actually moved me deeply.

5. 3 Women: From Altman, born from a dream he had after a bad day at work/home. Lots of interesting aspects, enjoyably quirky and funny in parts. Overall, doesn't really amount to anything sensible or concrete. Which I suppose is the point. But still....

6. Fearless: Watchable Jeff Bridges movie, directed by Peter Weir. Seems like it could have been a better movie. Bridges takes it from a low B to a mid-level B.

7. Vincent and Theo: Its about the artistic process. How artists feel/grope their way through the turmoil of creating something. Not fully understanding how they're doing it. Not really caring either. About surrendering to the art itself. Sacrificing oneself and using that as a justification to be a jerk to everyone else too. About how artists happily use other people, even those they care about, to make sure they have the ability (financial support, commercial appeal, public attention) to work.

8. Kicking and Screaming: Over-hyped, overrated. But so many good, funny scenes. Chris Eigeman is terrific. More roles should be written for him.

9. The Player: Altman's satire on Hollywood. It's a good film. Not a great film, but then again the script doesn't really have the ambition to be great (i.e. on par w/ Sunset Boulevard). Tim Robbins in perhaps his 2nd best performance on film (after Bull Durham) -- even then he's hardly enjoyable to watch. I wonder why pple keep casting him in movies.