Category: Movies Page 47 of 52

Paris By Way Of South Korea: The Movie, “Night and Day”

On June 28, 2015

Night and Day (2008 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the Hong Sang-soo film, Night and Day (2008), Seong-nam is a soiled Korean fellow who is in Paris after fleeing the police (the crime was smoking pot) in Seoul. A painter, he meets several young Korean women affiliated with the Paris art scene and, though married to a wife in Seoul, eventually commits adultery with one of them. The movie, both directed and scripted by Hong, is about Life, period. Related to this, of course, are Hong’s themes: sexual desire in an alien country, the fluctuations in human connections, the concept of sin (Seong-nam is a Bible reader), and when even a middle-aged person lacks a real occupation—and a direction in life. What’s more, Night and Day slowly becomes an absorbing love story, including between Seong-nam and his wife.

Hong is a talented man who savvily depends on medium and medium-long shots, and is an imaginative writer. Plus he works well enough with his performers that the acting ranges from good to very good. Kim Yeong-ho is very good as the main character.

On The Downey Jr. Vehicle, “The Judge”

By EarlD

On October 19, 2014

In Movies

I don’t know much about defense attorneys, but I don’t completely buy the depiction of them, or of one of the prosecutors (David Krumholtz), in David Dobkin’s new film, The Judge (2014). There’s something utterly specious here. Still, although this legal drama is not terribly good, it isn’t terribly bad—or even plain bad—either. It has Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall (as convincing as ever), Vincent D’Onofrio (full of depth), and Billy Bob Thornton. Critic David Edelstein is right about its “picturesque” outdoor shots. It has a story of very limited strength, but at least some strength is there.

That said, allow me to comment also that I like old movies (significantly old) because they were prohibited from showing the kind of gross vomiting and diarrheal excreting that The Judge gives us. Ugh!

English: Actor Robert Downey Jr. promoting the film “Iron Man” in Mexico City (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oh, Those Critics And That “Immigrant” Movie

By EarlD

On June 15, 2014

In Movies

That critics would fervently praise a mediocre film like James Gray’s The Immigrant (2014) points up that movie criticism is still in the same dismal state it has always been in. No, it’s in a worse state, for, after all, we used to have the fine criticism of John Simon, Stanley Kauffmann, Charles Thomas Samuels, Dwight MacDonald, Vernon Young and—well—Pauline Kael. No more.

Re The Immigrant, it’s an unpersuasive period piece which I refused to watch to the end. No one is paying me to view these films; the expense is mine.

Humor But No Frivolity In “Inside Llewyn Davis”

By EarlD

On April 22, 2014

In General, Movies

Llewyn and Ulysses (Photo credit: vapour trail)

It is a little hard to see the girl played by Carey Mulligan in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) as a slut, as she presumably is, but easy to believe she herself has a point in considering Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) a “loser.” A merchant mariner struggling to become a professional folk singer in 1961, Llewyn has very little money, is possibly the father of Mulligan’s soon-to-be-aborted child, constantly lets other people down and is in turn let down by other people, and even receives an absurd beating by a mysterious stranger.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s film is a black comedy—too black. Undeniably amusing, it is also rather specious. As is well known by many, to deny the light is as much a lie as to deny the dark, and here the Coens deny the light. All they care to offer us is pessimism and (usually so-so) music, which makes for an undistinguished film—or would if it weren’t for the reasonably well-written script. For the Coens have penned an integrated story less contrived than that of their No Country for Old Men. Good going, guys, but . . .

it sure isn’t perfect.

Other assets are here, too, and in truth Inside Llewyn Davis is a modest success.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Is No B.S.

By EarlD

On April 13, 2014

In General, Movies

Standing Proud |Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review (Photo credit: BagoGames)

The noise made over drones and the NSA may well be fatuous,* but Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) projects these things into the future to do its scrutinizing, if that’s what it is, of What Could Come About (beware). In light of this and the powerful action, the pic is a no-b.s. concoction (though not without humor). Highlights include a slick, smashingly fine auto chase and a tense bait-and-switch followed by gunfire within a government building.

Robert Redford is in the film, playing an intelligence director, a glorifier of security over freedom. Subtly commanding, he is still a remarkable actor—unlike Chris Evans, who is just okay as Capt. America. Scarlett Johansson, on the other hand, is inspired enough to make Natasha/Black Widow (who?) more or less interesting. Winter Soldier has two film editors and two directors, which was perhaps requisite for its technical perfection.

*Or maybe it isn’t.

Captain America The Winter Soldier No Politics Please? (guardianlv.com)
How Well Do The Stars Of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Know Their Marvel Lore? (comicbookmovie.com)

Category: Movies Page 47 of 52

Paris By Way Of South Korea: The Movie, “Night and Day”

On The Downey Jr. Vehicle, “The Judge”

Oh, Those Critics And That “Immigrant” Movie

Humor But No Frivolity In “Inside Llewyn Davis”

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Is No B.S.

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