What the Bleep Do We Know? (2004)

This is actually an interesting movie – not because of the content, but because of the way it mixes documentary with conventional story-telling!

Somehow the real story is never clear. Things move from physics to biology, to theology and then back rather quickly. At the same time, Amanda, a mute photographer with a strong aversion to weddings, has to come to grips with reality – a challenge much greater than one would think.

Without a Paddle (2004)

Imagine a remake of one of the most disturbing movies of the 70-es, Deliverance. Done in 2004, in the middle of the neo-Victorian era, with the exposure of Janet Jackson’s breasts being item of scandal. That can’t be good news, right?

Without a paddle misses all the major points of the original: there is nothing of the duality of city dweller vs. country folk. None of the ideological reasons for the original trip. The rawness of the original is unmatched. The desperation is just not there.

Quills (2000)

A movie about the Marquis de Sade? That sounds like a difficult proposition in the best scenario. And yet, here it was pulled off with great results. A sickly and lascivious Marquis de Sade plays the clown in a scenery dominated by Joaquin Phoenix and Kate Winslet.

The plot is inconsequential and irrelevant at best. What we are interested in is the man, and the beauties. The man, it turns out, is mostly frustrated behind bars. A lot of his pornography seems to have been the result more of wishful dreaming than of experience. Still, the Marquis succeeds in projecting himself into our presence even as the mere shadow of himself, until the very end.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

An exercise in complicatedness. That’s what it felt like, especially after coming home from work on a very long Friday.

The movie is clearly meant to be viewed a few times before you can piece together the whole scenario. DVD viewers (thanks to the commentary) have the upper hand, and if you think you are going to get into something funny or romantic, it’s going to be a startling revelation.

The Aviator (2004)

Howard Hughes seems to have been quite the character. A multitalented virtuoso of money-making, he ended up being one of the richest men in the first part of the 20th century, rivaling in power other tycoons like W.R. Hearst. And maybe it’s the analogy with the latter that moved Scorsese to create this movie. Once in a while, you are reminded of “Citizen Kane”, and it’s not only because of the decor.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Tag line: Tim Burton back at his best.

Subtitle: Why people who love a movie should never watch the remake.

Why do we all love Tim Burton? I don’t know about you, but I have always loved his absurd humor, his digging deep into the human soul to find out there is levity in there, to an extent that other people can’t seem to find. No matter which of his movies you go to, you’ll see something magic happen, usually something pleasant and pleasing.

M (1931)

Fritz Lang’s first talkie – that’s how Netflix presented the movie to me. It’s amazing to see how quickly movies changed from the days of no sound and their pathos, to the current way of shooting movies. Seems like the jump from silent to sound was much more dramatic than that from black and white to color.

M is billed as one of the first thrillers ever shot. A young, quite effemminate man turns out to be a child killer out on the loose. The police are at a loss as to how to apprehend him, so they start raiding the underworld in search of a criminal. The bosses of the underworld start fearing for their business and chase the killer, as well. They know that once the child killings stop, the police will stop interfering.

The Seven Samurai (1954)

So what’s the deal with this one? Billed as one of the Greatest Movies of All Times on IMDB (#5), it took me four days to watch it. Somehow the plot was too predictable, the scenes too repetitious, the acting unintelligible without cultural context. Didn’t get it. Sorry. Maybe in a next life.

Seabiscuit

Great! So there is an underdog horse with an underdog jockey, but they win all races and power a whole generation of men and women desperately seeking a role model for overturning odds.

Seabiscuit was the star of 1938. The one that already had given up on twice, who managed to recover and achieve the greatest results when he should have been long history.

Made into a novel later on, the story of Seabiscuit the horse and of the men that made him into a star got to become an exciting movie, whose duration of two and a half hours is the only serious limitation to enjoyment.

Elektra

The very memorable Jennifer Garner stars in this forgettable action-packed movie. Elektra is a spin-off of the recent Daredavil, starring Ben Affleck, which bombed at the box office.

Since Spiderman captured the audiences and ranked in the Top Ten Highest Grossing Movies of All Times, comic book characters have become the targets of big budget Hollywood. It worked with Superman decades ago, it worked with Spiderman – why wouldn’t it work with Daredevil, too?