Review: All is Lost

ALL IS LOST:  Someone whose name is never revealed is on his way somewhere in a sailboat alone in the Indian Ocean.  This sounds like quite the adventure for someone who wishes to push the boundaries of endurance and accomplish something truly epic.  But you need to pay attention to the first lines of the movie.  You need to try to understand why this man is where he is.  Try to find some insight into the motivation of Robert Redford's character.  I don't think he was out there to be one of those classic adventurers.  He seems more of a yacht-y out on a neat trip.  In any event disaster strikes, he is forced improvise, abandon ship and survive.

My problem with this movie is that I know too much about sailing and life at sea.  I would hope that J.C. Chandor (the writer) did a lot of research.  There were a lot of mistakes made by Redford's character throughout the movie that made him appear to survive in spite of himself.  I think, though, the character was supposed to be seen as resourceful and less lucky.  And that, ultimately, is the problem with this movie it is hard to really sympathise with a character that makes really dumb decisions when you know what it is he should be doing.

All is Lost, is otherwise a really good movie.  Redford has a monologue at the beginning, speaks a sentence over a radio and says one more word - and that is the extent of the lines.  He acts well and does a good job showing his emotions and frustrations.  The photography is good - above average even.  For such a spartan movie it does very well - the beef with this movie is in the actions of the character that is, I believe, supposed to be more heroic and resourceful than he appears to an educated audience member.

On the Chris' Choice Rating Scale, All is Lost gets 3 stars.

***

Review: Fly Boys

I'm a big fan of WW1 flying films. This was a fun movie, but problematic. The movie is about the story of the French flying squadron that was filled with American volunteers fighting during the First World War before the US joined the fight. The squadron was real and called "L'Escadrille Lafayette".

The movie is fun in that it is a classic war movie with all of the formulas that one comes to expect. We found ourselves guessing who was going to die first and the next plot twist. The characters were one-dimensional and, obviously the plot was not so good.

I enjoyed the movie none the less, but it was a fan-boy kind of thing. There are much better WW1 movies out there that have aged well. I would recommend The Blue Max. Unlike Fly Boys, the movie was filmed entirely using old aircraft and the pictures are thrilling. The use of CGI in Fly Boys was distracting and from a fan boy perspective was a let-down.

On the Chris' Choice Rating Scale Fly Boys gets one star

*

powered by performancing firefox

Review: Marie Antoinette

It has been a while since I last posted a review to this site, but it has also been a long time since I last saw a movie. So, here is one of two movies that we were able to squeeze in on a Saturday night.

Marie Antoinette follows the life of the Austrian Princess from the time that she is betrothed to the Dauphin to the time that she flees Versailles in the midst of the French treason of 1789. Putatively this is a period piece. There are plenty of lavish scenes of the royal court and lives the courtesans. Some of the most interesting points in the movie involve the elaborate ritual of the court as seen from the perspective of the relative outsider.

There were three things that I found objectionable about this movie. The first was the infusions of contemporary music into the score. It was distracting to hear an electic guitar and punk music being played over scenes set in 18th century Versailles. Related to that was the use of montage in order to speed through the passage of time. Such a device is often one of the last resource of a screen writer trying to salvage a poor script. Finally was the constant attention paid to the issue of the consummation of the marriage of Marie and Louis. This did not have to be the subject of the first half of the film. Though an important part of the film it takes too much attention away from other issues that play a larger role in the downfall of the rightful kings of France in the inevitable treason at the end (I am not spoiling anything here because it is a matter of historical fact. If me revealing the fact that Marie was involved in the French Revolution is news to you, then I do not want you reading this blog anyway, feel free to spend your time reading a history book). There is no doubt that the foibles of the Royal couple had something to do with the revolution, and that revolution looms over the entire film. It is an inevitable fact and the movie does not adequately deal with that fact.

It must be difficult to write a film about a story where everyone knows the ending, but that cannot be helped. The writer and director must come up with a strategy for dealing with this fact. This film did not do that, and that is a significant failing. Despite some of the better aspects of it.

On the Chris Choice Rating Scale Marie Antoinette gets one star
*

2000 Storikengold, Dietrich Joss

I'm enjoying a superb glass of vintage Dietrich Joss Storikengold. It is a fine blend of white hybrid grapes and is one of my last bottles from this excellent Quebec winery. I strongly urge people to give this winery a chance. I've been drinking their product for years, and will be going back this Christmas to stock up again. Give Quebec a chance! Yum!

The Rating Scale

Developed in Conjunction with Mr J.J.E. Imber, Esq

This was lost after some house cleaning on my other site. So, I've reposted it.

Ratings on this website will attempt to follow a rational and meaningful system of evaluation and quantification. There will be two systems. One system will follow a number-name system between -3 and +3 with no fractions and only a theoretical zero. The second system will be identical in substance, but since everyone on earth rates movies using stars we will condescend to a star based system. from 0 to 5 stars using only whole stars. The meanings and terminology of the system are outlined below:

Number- Name	Stars (movie)	Descriptor	Meaning	Success
+3	5	Very superior, fantastic	A Z-score of greater than +2 or 2.275 % of all things of this nature. (98th and 99th percentile)	STRONGLY SURPASSED Revolutionary qualities and others better start taking notice.
+2	4	Quality, very good, excellent,	A Z-score of between +1and +2 or 13.590 % of all things of this nature. (between 84th and 97th percentile)	SURPASSED Has surpassed expectations with unique and innovative qualities
+1	3	Legit, good, alright	A Z-score of between 0 and +1 or 34.135% of all things of this nature. (between 50th and 83rd percentile)	STRONG PASS Has met expectations with general satisfaction
0	"2 1/2"	The theoretical average	This is the theoretical average point. A grade of zero will not be given. Iit has no real existential value. Have you ever had the average wine?
-1	2	Not impressive, has problems	A Z-score of between 0 and -1 or 34.135 % of all things of this nature. (between 16th and 49th percentile)	WEAK PASS Did not meet all expectations, but has certain redeeming qualities
-2	1	Junk, bad, not good	A Z-score of between -1and -2 or 13.590 % of all things of this nature. (between 2nd and 15th percentile)	MARGINAL FAIL with no redeeming qualites (wine would be rejected)
-3	0	*@#^&#	A Z-score of less than -2 or 2.275 % of all things of this nature. (0th and 1st percentile)	SEVERE FAIL Has qualities, but they are bad. This was a step in the wrong direction

The Z-score is a statistical tool. If you decided to sleep through your statistics course or have simply forgotten what it all means please check this website for a brief refresher:

http://www.sysurvey.com/tips/statistics/zscore.htm

Review: Domino

The movie Domino is a movie about a member of the Beverly Hills 90210 establishment who rebels against her mother and becomes a Bounty Hunter. The movie attempts to build a character development story along with the action movie strory. The former is not very convincing and/or interesting; the latter is pretty standard. What saves the movie and brings it slightly above average is the style of the presentation and some pretty cool casting - if it has Christopher Walken chances are it will be cool.

The action story line is told by Domino the bounty hunter in a police interrogation room. Of Course, this has been done, but Lucy Liu is the interogator and there is a good raport between the two. The main action story line develops over an inside job gone wrong, again, it has been done. What makes the movie kinda edgy is the female bounty hunter trying to prover herself. Plus the filming is done in a gritty kind of colour that lends a Bobba-Fet meets American Western in modern LA feel to the movie. I don't like making those kind of analogies any more than most people like reading them. Nonetheless I think the comparison is apt, so tough.

What does this all add up to? A solid action movie.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Domino gets three stars.

***

Some Recent Reviews

Kim
An old movie based on the Kipling book. It was lots of fun and worth seeing. You just can't make movies like this anymore. ***

Primer
An intteresting movie that has garnered a lot of attention recently. I'm not sure it is all that is cracked up to be. Yes, it is cool that it was made for so little money. Unfortunately the narrative is very difficult to follow after a while and the movie gets a little tiresome. I don't really care how much money the movie was made for so: **

Saw
Another interesting movie with a cool premise. Too bad it falls into that category of american film making that just wants to shock and surprise with gore and twist endings. Yawn... *

Movie Review: The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener
Just out this weekend, this is a movie based on a LeCarre book. The first layer of the story involves investigations into pharmaceuticals, testing, aids and poor Africa. But, there are several other layers - notably a beautiful love story. The acting is first class, the photography stunning and the direction great. Go see this movie ****

A Great Ebert Review

You have to check out this review by Roger Ebert! Though I haven't seen the Deuce Bigalow 2 movie, from Ebert's comments it would seem that the only good thing to come from this movie is his review. I can only fantasise that one day I could write such a witty and yet still useful review.

Quick Reviews: Big Fish & Leboweski, Passion of the Christ

Big Fish:
This was a nice looking film that was all style and little substance. It had the advantage of containing an interesting story and some very likeable characters. The movie is about an oldman with many stories dying and a son who isstruggling to understand the fantastic stories. The stories are very fantastic and we struggle to figure out, with the son, what it all means. Unfortunately the stories are fullof sound and fury, the brief candle is extinguished and we are left with a tale told by an idiot. Idon't think I've spoiled anything. The movie should be better knowing that one need not expend neural energies trying to find underlying meaning.

** Two Stars

The Big Lebowski:
A fun movie with some great characters. The movie is full of great moments and great lines. It is entertaining and is almost a cult classic, but in the end it lacks the qualities that makes a movie great.

*** Three Stars

The Passion of the Christ:
This movie was full of formula and second rate tricks. Slow moton shots, lingering shots, a cheesy score and symbolism with a sledgehammer. This doesn't diminish the importance of the movie or the power of the message. The movie is just a substandard piece of cinema telling an important story.

** Two Stars

Review: Sin City

What can I say, this was a bad movie. The only thing worse than living in Sin City would be to live in a city that enjoyed Sin City.

The movie has no coherent narrative structure. The movie is organised around three stories that are VERY loosely related - they all passed through one bar. The characters are all bad, they differ only by degree.

The great thing about comics is that they develop very intricate characters with rich back stories. Of course comic series develop over years. Part of the challenge of puting comics on screen is to develop those characters in an hour or two. Sin City has three stories and three sets of charactres. It can't develop any of those characters except as caricatures. Consequently, the movie is a caricature. Cliches and rediculous lines get tossed about as easilly as the bullets and the whole thing is over the top.

Then, there is the violence. It takes a lot to get me to baulk at the violence. The violence was just extreme for the sake of extreme violence. There was nothing symbolic or purposeful in the violence except that it was demanded by the fact that these guys are all bad. All the violence got tiresome.

Of course there is the style. The style is not as original or great as people seem to think. Schindler's List effectively used well placed colour in a B&W film. But, as a comic based movie it does look and feel like a comic book. Comic books, however, are more than just entities that exist preserve a style their characters and stories are what sustain them - not style. Thus a movie like this that is all style and no substance is very much defective.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Sin City gets one star.
*

Review: Hostage

Quickly - We were out last night to see Hostage starring Bruce Willis. This is a competent action flick with an experienced action star. The background story was smart and, to my knowledge, unique. Visually, the movie seemed to do everything it needed to and had a fairly interesting opening sequence. The major problem with the movie was with the logic and the sequence of the movie's action.

In the end, the movie was a good watch but on the walk home the holes began to appear.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Hostage gets three stars.

***

Movie Review: The Phantom

The Phantom:
This is an older film that we rented. It is based on an old 30s superhero and is one of the better comic book action adventure films. The 30s superheroes have a sort of innocence that makes them endearing and fun to watch. You can get lost in the innocence of their crusade to fight evil, and in this case piracy as well. The film matches the innocence of the characters with a visual pallette that is vivid and simple. The purples, reds and browns help to create a story that is easy to sink into and enjoy as a pleasurable and entertaining adventure. This movie does what it does very well.
**** Four Stars!

Some Quick Reviews

Bride and Prejudice:
This is a pretty good adaptation of the Jane Austen Classic. It is set in contemporary India, Los Angelas and London. The characters in the film are great and lots of fun - they also correspond the traits of the original quite well. The plot, too, follows the original well, and so, there is little to fault to find there. The setting is adequately adapted, but the film is too short to fully develop the parallels and we are left relying on the original to fill things in. Then there is the singing and dancing.... well it can be amusing and often it is annoying.
*** Three Stars

Constantine:
Here we have another comic/superhero movie. It is a stark contrast to The Phantom. The scene is dark and gothic the characters are deeply flawed. The story is interesting, though not too engaging. The story is driven by characters we don't ever get to know. That means that the supervillain isn't very active there is nobalance to the hero. That hero, Keanu Reeves doesn't put up the greatest performance - nor do any other actors. It's a decent attempt and is entertaining. You'd be surprised - it isn't a total waste of money.
** Two Stars

Movie Review: Million Dollar Baby

Here we have a decent movie that has been given a lot of attention because of the paucity of good films to come out this past year. I enjoyed this film, that is, I enjoyed it as much as one can enjoy a film of this nature. The problem is that Million Dollar Baby has been thrust into the company of films beyond its merit.

The film starts off well. In fact, it was the beginning of this movie that made the greatest impression on me. We meet some great characters - all of the important ones - in a boxing club run by Clint Eastwood. The dynamic that develops between the regulars at the club was far more interesting, better acted, and generally done with greater skill and effect than anything in the third and final act. One enjoys the relationships as these characters learn to get along, deal with the past and build a future. The lessons learned and the themes are developped with a modicum of subtlety and a great deal of sympathy is built.

The second act train starts to gather speed, but stays on track. If the first act was a character drama, the second is a boxing fantasy. The backstories begin heading toward resolution and we are curious to know if anyone learns anything.

Of course, my problem is always with the endings of movies. The ending has all of the subtlety and art of a trainwreck. First, everything in the final act is alluded to in the second act, because the third act is so extreme that if these allusions hadn't been made the whole act would have been considered 'unrealistic'.

A lot of attention has been drawn to the relationship between Clint's character and the priest character. Many people believe that film is trying to make a statement. I think the film is really just trying to setup a basis for discussion. That is, the film wants the discussion that takes place between Clint and the priest to continue after people leave the theatre. In that respect, it has been successful. However, the ending belittles the potential of the first and, to a lesser extent, the second act. The third act has all of the subtlety of one of those moral-philosophical thought experiments where everything is setup, then put in motion and one decision is required with great, but innevitable, consequence. Such experiments are designed to eliminate variables and to focus ones thought on the essential question that requires an answer. And so, in the end, we are tricked by a movie that appears multifaceted that is, though interesting, a well constructed one-dimensional conversation piece.

The conflict between the beginning and the end of this movie, obviously, left me feeling as though it had failed to live up to its dramatic beginnings. Maybe the attention that it has been getting is simply a refelction of its success at generating discussion - what I think its goal was. Clearly in one respect it is a good movie, but in the aspect that I have tried to articulate I feel it has a big problem and it is the kind of problem that 5 star movies ought tobe able to sort out.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Million Dollar Baby gets three stars.

***

Zip.Ca

So we've been getting the movies delivered to the shacks here in Halifax. That is, we've been using an internet movie rental site to order DVDs. So far things are going well. We are pleased with the DVD service. There wasan incident where one DVD did not arrive. We knew it had likely shipped with three others in the same package, if at all. Since the DVD in question didn't arrive with the others we sent an e-mailand got no response. The site doesn't seem to respond too wel l to e-mails, though when the DVD was sufficiently overdue the website allowed a proforma complaint to be filled and that was deal with rapidly.

Stay tuned as we get more experience with the service and have more to report.

Movie Review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

This movie is notas bad as everyone says, though it certainly isn't a good movie.

Good: Big-name actors, neat out-of-time technology.

Bad: The big-name-acting, some of the situations get too fantastic for the fantasy setting and become 'unrealstic'.

On the official Chris' Choice scale The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen gets Two stars.

**

Contemplating the East Coast

Now that I've been out here on the East Coast of Canada for some time - this is my second time in Halifax, I feel as though it is time to shed some light on a misconception.

Atlantic Salmon:
Well, it pales in comparison to some of the larger pacific varieties. I've been trying to experience as much Atlantic Salmon dishes as I possible can. Simply, I want to be able to judge as openly and fairly as I can the local 'delicacy'. Of course the manner in which a dish is prepared willhave a tremendous effect on the quality and the taste of any dish. As it turns out the methods of preparation on the east and west coast do not vary as much as one might have expected. I've also sampled extensively, so I feel confident in my belief that I am not judging the lesser fish on a poor preparation.

The fact is simply this, Atlantic Salmon has a lighter colour and a weaker taste. Compared to that rich flavour that one expects from, say, a Coho or Sockeye Atlantic Salmon is bland.

Coming Soon: Haddock & Cod vs Halibut

Movie Review: Terminator 3

The only thing remarkable about this movie is that it is the shape Arnold is in after all of these years!

The intriguing ideas and three (or four?) dimensional characters the first two movies are gone and all that is left is a long chase scene. Arnold can keep up - cool.

I don't know why a third movie was necessary. I was happy with T2.

Anyway, what is there to say? Machines (one good and one bad) go back in time to solve problems of the future... they chase some people... destruction... slight surprise at the end. For a chase movie T3 is pretty good. There are some cool scenes that I don't think have been done before and the budget was high - cool.

The movie is cool, but unremarkable. I am wasting time that could be spent elsewhere.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Terminator 3 gets two stars.

**

Movie Review: The Matrix Reloaded

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. William Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 5, scene 5

Keep poor old Macbeth in mind when you watch this movie and you will have a grand time. The Matrix Reloaded is a fabrication about a fabrication about a ...

I liked this movie - maybe because I have a tendency to be soft on the middle movie of trilogies. Much has to be revealed and set-up for the third movie. There are long speeches by the Morpheus, new characters, and hints of things to come. I don't see this stuff as boring or some kind of teasing but as potential for a really good third movie.

The movie plays with what we understand reality to be. In the first installment we were confident that we could tell one from the other. The sequel puts that all in question. We see speeches by Morpheus that seem so deep that they signify nothing; the unstoppable determinism that rules Neo's life makes us wonder if he is on a stage; we even meet the idiot. My question is: whose story is he telling? and how far does the stage extend? All of these questions, and more, get posed or at least alluded to in this movie. The possibilities are intiguing. I was not expecting to leave satisfied, I was expecting to leave excited to see the third. I was happy - surprised even - to leave with my knowledge of the first film so unravelled that I had to watch it again.

A movie like this is a refreshing change from a lot of the crap that gets spewed out these days. On one level it thrills you with all the FX it uses and the cool fight scenes. The thing I like is that it excites you intellectually you are forced to spend time trying to figure out just what idea is the key that will bring reality into focus. The "philosophy" and "depth" is sound and fury - in the end signifying nothing - regardless of what a bunch of geeks think. The search for the key, or the coffee house theories about what will make the whole story make sense provides the fun.

On the official Chris' Choice scale The Matrix Reloaded gets three stars.

***