En attendant Cannes...
Apr. 25th, 2006 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaniI went back to the movies and saw 2 films in 4 days. V for Vendetta and Inside Man. One is really better than the other. Guess which one?
I thought it might be original, even though I didn't know the book it's based on. The idea of a totalitarian Great Britain was appealing. I don't know why but I thought it might be like in Jasper Fforde's novels.
Well it was not. I don't like to throw tomatoes but V for Vendetta is a flop. The story borrowed stuff from Georges Orwell's 1984, Phantom of Paradise, Clockwork Orange even, without never finding its own tone and universe. It's lenient and heavy, extremely wordy, indulging in too many easy expedients (like the domino effect leading to the big red V,) that have been overused in action movies and romance flicks. You can see right through it. It didn'treally explore the idea of terrorism which would have been so interesting, it never succeeded in making the totalitarianism believable, and it didn't manage to move us with the love story between V and Evey. Maybe a love story between Evey and Valeries would have saved the film...The bit when she read Valerie's words and kissed the paper wasn't bad, but no they didn't want to go that road. Like everything else, the homosexuality side-plot was simply skimmed over.
The actor behind the mask was okay, the mask was rather expressive, Nathalie Portman wasn't bad, Stephen Fry gave us his usual gay performance, so the cast was rather good and the actors made the most of what they had, but the scenario is so slim and farfetched , and the direction is so showy that you end up thinking "a lot of fuss about nothing".
Well it was not. I don't like to throw tomatoes but V for Vendetta is a flop. The story borrowed stuff from Georges Orwell's 1984, Phantom of Paradise, Clockwork Orange even, without never finding its own tone and universe. It's lenient and heavy, extremely wordy, indulging in too many easy expedients (like the domino effect leading to the big red V,) that have been overused in action movies and romance flicks. You can see right through it. It didn'treally explore the idea of terrorism which would have been so interesting, it never succeeded in making the totalitarianism believable, and it didn't manage to move us with the love story between V and Evey. Maybe a love story between Evey and Valeries would have saved the film...The bit when she read Valerie's words and kissed the paper wasn't bad, but no they didn't want to go that road. Like everything else, the homosexuality side-plot was simply skimmed over.
The actor behind the mask was okay, the mask was rather expressive, Nathalie Portman wasn't bad, Stephen Fry gave us his usual gay performance, so the cast was rather good and the actors made the most of what they had, but the scenario is so slim and farfetched , and the direction is so showy that you end up thinking "a lot of fuss about nothing".
I really like Spike Lee. I think he's a great director.
Inside Man isn't a masterpiece, it doesn't reach the level of the superb 25th Hour, but it's a good movie, very entertaining with a great cast, beautiful shots, a creative filming-style and some moments that are simply precious.
I wouldn't say that the screenplay is terrific. I don't know who wrote it, but it isn't Usual Suspects. It isn't that the story is bad, it's rather refreshing, but I wasn't surprised by the supposed twist and I found it rather predictable actually. So I didn't like the movie for its suspense!
The side-plot with Jodie Foster isn't that great either, it seems forced on us. But she managed to look cold and hot at once, and her name Madeline White was a good joke making of her character a walking cliché but she's pretty legs and it's Lee's point of view!
The stuff I liked then: well Denzel Washington was good and rather human, and so was Clive Owen as the mastermind Bank-robber, and I loved our Operative from Serenity, Chiwetel Ejiofor who here plays Washington's sidekick. He's delicious. In interludes that are actually post-robbery, we see Denzel Washington and Chiwetel Ejiofor having "individual interview" of all the hostages/suspects. As they're interviewing the "big tits" woman, Chiwetel is filmed in a very tight shot, but we understand that he can't help watching the boobies!
Above all it's Spike Lee's skill as a director in use of camera angles, dual cameras, motion shots, cutaways that make the film worth seeing. But some entertaining moments are also there to make you smile (like when the cops are arguing over Owen's riddle after they solved it ) while giving sometimes a bit of a message about education (when Owen is taking a look at the so violent video game the only kid among the hostages plays with), about our society failings (the annoying woman with the blackberry phone in the bank!), about New York's cosmopolitanism (of course there's someone who understands Albanian in the streets !).
At the end of the day, Spike Lee just made a film about New York again!
Inside Man isn't a masterpiece, it doesn't reach the level of the superb 25th Hour, but it's a good movie, very entertaining with a great cast, beautiful shots, a creative filming-style and some moments that are simply precious.
I wouldn't say that the screenplay is terrific. I don't know who wrote it, but it isn't Usual Suspects. It isn't that the story is bad, it's rather refreshing, but I wasn't surprised by the supposed twist and I found it rather predictable actually. So I didn't like the movie for its suspense!
The side-plot with Jodie Foster isn't that great either, it seems forced on us. But she managed to look cold and hot at once, and her name Madeline White was a good joke making of her character a walking cliché but she's pretty legs and it's Lee's point of view!
The stuff I liked then: well Denzel Washington was good and rather human, and so was Clive Owen as the mastermind Bank-robber, and I loved our Operative from Serenity, Chiwetel Ejiofor who here plays Washington's sidekick. He's delicious. In interludes that are actually post-robbery, we see Denzel Washington and Chiwetel Ejiofor having "individual interview" of all the hostages/suspects. As they're interviewing the "big tits" woman, Chiwetel is filmed in a very tight shot, but we understand that he can't help watching the boobies!
Above all it's Spike Lee's skill as a director in use of camera angles, dual cameras, motion shots, cutaways that make the film worth seeing. But some entertaining moments are also there to make you smile (like when the cops are arguing over Owen's riddle after they solved it ) while giving sometimes a bit of a message about education (when Owen is taking a look at the so violent video game the only kid among the hostages plays with), about our society failings (the annoying woman with the blackberry phone in the bank!), about New York's cosmopolitanism (of course there's someone who understands Albanian in the streets !).
At the end of the day, Spike Lee just made a film about New York again!
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Date: 2006-04-26 04:11 pm (UTC)Thank you so much for trying to help. I guess we'll never really know (since he's to shy to ask...), but at least it isn't "He a big ol' ass" or something...
Thanks again!!