I always look forward to catching up on films while back in the states. On the airplane I had the opportunity to see a couple of interesting films. The first was Kung Fu Hustle by Stephen Chow. It’s a sort of a martial arts comedy with CGI effects to enhance the craziness of it. I liked the fact that it was set in the 30s and pitted the ruthless Ax gang against an unlikely group of martial arts masters residing in an old style housing block. The other interesting film I saw was a psychological thriller called The Jacket starring Adrien Brody and Kiera Knightly. It was about an American Iraqi War vet who survived a head wound in the war despite being clinically dead for a period of time, who is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and is then sent to a mental institution and put through a number of grueling experiments to cure him which allows him to travel into the future.
It sort of resembles another psychological thriller that I rented while in Spokane, The Machinist, staring an emaciated Christian Bale. Incidentally, both films also boast Jennifer Jason Leigh in a supporting role. This film is a creepy thriller centered on the main character’s debilitating guilt that keeps you guessing, since nothing is as it seems.
I also managed to catch Crash in the theaters while in Seattle. It was a fascinating film that boasts an amazing cast including Don Cheadle, Terrence Howard, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Brendan Fraiser, Sandra Bullock, and several others. Essentially, it comments on the racial biases and discriminations that are acknowledged and suppressed. There hasn’t been a film in recent memory that has done such affine line of addressing these issues. I liked how the overlapping and interconnecting stories were tied together in the end. It was a modern tragedy of great pathos.
In February I picked up some DVDs while on vacation and one of them, Vera Drake, stopped midway through. I was quite upset since I was invested in the story and totally hooked curious to see where it was going. So I re-rented it so I could see the conclusion. It was another tragedy dealing with another controversial issue: abortion. I’ve been a big fan of Mike Leigh’s for some time and again he has created a memorable and moving drama. Imelda Staunton is worthy of her Academy Award nomination in a powerful performance.
I guess Million Dollar Baby also falls into the controversial tragedy category, since it deals with euthanasia at the end of the film, but it has many themes and reflects many genres in the broad scope of the film. I think this made the film more nuanced and complicated than it would appear at first glance. There were also some fine performances among the lead actors as well.
I also took in some comedies as well. I had heard a lot of good things about Team America, and I laughed a lot in the film, but not as much as I thought I would. There were some great songs, especially the theme song and the Rent parody “Lease.” I was let down a bit by the satire and the easy characterization of Kim Ill Jung, who can’t pronounce his r’s (that one is so overdone-see Lost in Translation). The satire was one sided as they took pot shots at Hollywood liberals buy stayed away from satirizing anyone responsible and worthy of it. However, it is worth seeing for the puppet love scene in the unrated version alone.
In another excursion to the theater I saw The Wedding Crashers, which was enjoyable despite the “romantic comedy” true love conquers all crap at the end, which also marred the inferior Hitch, a rental I watched. Both films had its moments and could have been much funnier and darker if they didn’t have to have a moral at the end of the story. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson were in good form.
And the latest film I saw at the theaters was Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers. The deadpan Bill Murray was also in fine form. The story was compelling had you wondering what would come next. The soundtrack was eclectic and appropriate for a Jarmusch film and there were some great comedic performances by the support cast (Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, etc…) as well. There were plenty of funny moments and some moments of sincerity. I wasn’t sure whether this pairing would work or not, but I think it turned out well.
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