Jun 29
English director Mike Newell handles Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth in the Potter film series. Written by Steve Kloves and adapted from the J. K. Rowling novel of the same name, Goblet of Fire is vital stuff. It’s also one of the best of the bunch, telling an expansive tale that is wisely structured and pleasantly performed by the skilled actors. The effects are astounding, too, and the direction is compelling.
Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman is a mixed bag. On one hand, there’s some good stuff cooking. Kimberly Elise is a solid actress and the flick adds a little depth in to all the humdrum talk of relationships and so on. On the other hand, Tyler Perry can’t help but inject himself in drag as Madea. Now Madea is a character ripped from Eddie Murphy’s Nutty Professor shtick, but Perry’s made it into a regular franchise. There’s a shit-ton of Madea movies.
John Turturro’s Romance & Cigarettes is a hard one to figure out. A musical comedy, sort of, this 2005 picture is quite strange and, at times, even irritating. Yet the movie folds into a sort of soft beauty within the last half hour, almost redeeming the hysterically bad earlier portions and glossing over the strange musical decisions. Almost.
Turturro is probably known better as an actor. He’s a favourite of Spike Lee and the Coen brothers (the Coens serve as producers here) and has made a name for himself as playing offbeat, nearly nerdy characters. Behind the director’s chair, he has a sure eye for stylish shots and sleek camera movements. He swirls around characters and can add new dimensions in a flash, creating a thoroughly engaging world in a visual sense.
An Unfinished Life would probably ordinarily be a rather pleasant television movie, but it features acting of a high calibre and includes some gorgeous location shooting from British Columbia. Indeed, this is a movie built on the interactions between the two great leading actors and on the work of Swedish director Lasse Hallström in terms of capturing the wild, expansive beauty required.
Hallström is the director behind such melodramatic films as The Cider House Rules and Dear John, along with Chocolat, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and a bunch of ABBA videos. He has the touch for the sort of drama necessary here and ably juggles the stories to produce a narrative that isn’t always compelling but is almost always entertaining on at least some level.
Dec 10
Hoodwinked! is one of the worst animated features I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through. It is among the shoddiest looking movies in memory, a patchwork of CGI garbage plunked on top of a warbled plot with bland voice acting and Andy Dick. Yes, Andy Dick. Virtually the only pleasurable thought to enter my head during the entire ordeal came as the closing credits rolled.
