MAIN » ARTICLESCinéma 2005 - Janvier à avril, Vol. 2
“Well I started writing about cinema (January to April) but went off on a big tangent about an over-priced English breakfast. I wrote the whole article before I could get around to mentioning any of the films I was going to. It's a case of the Kill Bills; I’ll have to do a volume 2.” – Myself, 19th April 2005
20th April 2005:
As I mentioned in part 1, mediocrity is the word of the day. Of course, it’s never the case that four months can pass without some seriously good films, but whatever kind of average you work out for an overall standard, it isn’t pretty. I’d even go as far to say that the current drought of decent work has clouded my memory of prominent excellence that has actually appeared in 2005. Including the films I will mention later on, from Downfall to Hotel Rwanda, from The Life Aquatic to Sideways, quality will shine through in the end.
First I want to continue to emphasise my dissatisfaction with the overall menu, and I’ll use the Odeon here in Lincoln as my case study, why not. I’ll even make it contemporary; we’ll have a look at what was showing in the last week:
Hotel Rwanda was also a nice surprise. I didn’t see it coming; I didn’t see any trailers for it and went purely on recommendation. Not even a prior reading to get my mind in the right place, I was effectively going into the movie blind. Although obviously not literally blind, cinema wasn’t designed for those with visual handicaps, sorry guys.
The Chorus (It’s a French film), darkly comic in parts but so quaintly French in others. I also went to see this without having a clue what I was doing. I should stop doing that. It was good though, I don’t regret it in the slightest. The Life Aquatic was not so much a genuine piece of Wes Anderson gold dust, but more of a Bill Murray exhibition outing for me. I’m not sure I enjoyed myself at the movies in the first four months of this year than during this. It has some killer one-liners and comedy set-ups; Willem Dafoe is consistently hilarious as Klaus. It’s those Germans again, why are they so funny/enthralling? I would like to date a German girl one day, but that’s not a matter for this article.
I saw Million Dollar Baby. Well done to Morgan Freeman, Hillary Swank and Clint Eastwood for their Oscars. Blimey, that’s three for the three main actors – who would have thought it? I guess it deserved it, I was entertaining, my heart was punched a few times, and tears almost appeared. It slowed down a bit too much for my taste nearer the end, I mean, it was a boxing film, but overall it had everything an Oscar-winner should have. However, apart from Downfall, my favourite trip to the cinema (and this one was in Lincoln) of the year was to see Sideways. Paul Giamatti almost carried this single-handedly on his shoulders-of-acting-supremacy. He’s a demi-god. Ahh, wine. I’m reading the book now, a while later, now that the experience of seeing Sideways has aged, matured, and become more refined. I can’t wait to see it again; I expect to enjoy it to the fullest capacity.
Definitely a highlight. I’ll be back on the Film Desk in August, until then, go watch a movie or something.
Written by Jay
20th April 2005:
As I mentioned in part 1, mediocrity is the word of the day. Of course, it’s never the case that four months can pass without some seriously good films, but whatever kind of average you work out for an overall standard, it isn’t pretty. I’d even go as far to say that the current drought of decent work has clouded my memory of prominent excellence that has actually appeared in 2005. Including the films I will mention later on, from Downfall to Hotel Rwanda, from The Life Aquatic to Sideways, quality will shine through in the end.
First I want to continue to emphasise my dissatisfaction with the overall menu, and I’ll use the Odeon here in Lincoln as my case study, why not. I’ll even make it contemporary; we’ll have a look at what was showing in the last week:
- Be Cool is top of the alphabetical list, and I knew I wouldn’t enjoy this the first time I read it including a dance scene between John Travolta and Uma Thurman – where is the cinematic integrity? Where do you draw the line between creating semi-entertaining filth for a mass-audience and pissing all over classic iconic scenes? I don’t know - it’s a rhetorical question.
- Hitch is still being dragged out like a corpse along a gravel driveway, and should be in contention for most irritating trailer after you’ve seen it once. Man, it’s about time Will Smith did some serious acting, action-comedy is one thing, but romantic comedy, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air did it much better.
- Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. I’m not even going to talk about this one, I’m not even going to go and watch it before I decide if I like it. The first one was mildly entertaining but I imagine this is another example of ‘Why you shouldn’t sequel films like Legally Blonde’. Robots and Valiant I’ll leave alone because they’re aimed at a younger audience, and aren’t the kind of films I’d pay to see anyway.
- The Ring Two wasn’t bad, visually it was fine and the direction was spot-on, but the script and the themes developed nothing worthwhile beyond the original film and it was fighting a losing battle from the start. Not great, even if Naomi Watts does get hotter as the film progresses.
- Somehow, I haven’t yet figured out why a distributor failed to see the potentially lucrative gap in the market this week, Sahara was the biggest film on release. You know, the one that gets the biggest screen AND a smaller screen, as well as showings every hour. It looks like an offering of ‘time-filler’ to me, and the trailer dangerously underused its biggest asset: Penelope Cruz. Any one of this week’s new releases could have genuinely trumped this fairly standard Hollywood faire: The Interpreter and The Assassination of Richard Nixon especially.
Hotel Rwanda was also a nice surprise. I didn’t see it coming; I didn’t see any trailers for it and went purely on recommendation. Not even a prior reading to get my mind in the right place, I was effectively going into the movie blind. Although obviously not literally blind, cinema wasn’t designed for those with visual handicaps, sorry guys.
The Chorus (It’s a French film), darkly comic in parts but so quaintly French in others. I also went to see this without having a clue what I was doing. I should stop doing that. It was good though, I don’t regret it in the slightest. The Life Aquatic was not so much a genuine piece of Wes Anderson gold dust, but more of a Bill Murray exhibition outing for me. I’m not sure I enjoyed myself at the movies in the first four months of this year than during this. It has some killer one-liners and comedy set-ups; Willem Dafoe is consistently hilarious as Klaus. It’s those Germans again, why are they so funny/enthralling? I would like to date a German girl one day, but that’s not a matter for this article.
I saw Million Dollar Baby. Well done to Morgan Freeman, Hillary Swank and Clint Eastwood for their Oscars. Blimey, that’s three for the three main actors – who would have thought it? I guess it deserved it, I was entertaining, my heart was punched a few times, and tears almost appeared. It slowed down a bit too much for my taste nearer the end, I mean, it was a boxing film, but overall it had everything an Oscar-winner should have. However, apart from Downfall, my favourite trip to the cinema (and this one was in Lincoln) of the year was to see Sideways. Paul Giamatti almost carried this single-handedly on his shoulders-of-acting-supremacy. He’s a demi-god. Ahh, wine. I’m reading the book now, a while later, now that the experience of seeing Sideways has aged, matured, and become more refined. I can’t wait to see it again; I expect to enjoy it to the fullest capacity.
Definitely a highlight. I’ll be back on the Film Desk in August, until then, go watch a movie or something.
Written by Jay