Saturday, January 9, 2010

New Movie Reviews!

I've seen several movies in the last week or so, and thought I should share a review with ya'll.



1. Blind Side -
I sympathize with the message of this movie. A wealthy, white, Christian family befriends, takes in, and adopts a very large, uneducated, athletic young black kid from a broken family and a terrible neighborhood, and helps him succeed. Sandra Bullock did well as the mother, though she sure did get a LOT of screen time, with lots of tight clothing and facial close-ups. Her character is clearly the leader of her family, financially, and spiritually. The story is touching, no doubt. From my experience working for the juvenile court in Cincinnati, I know something about certain realities of the black family portrayed in the film. I wasn't totally impressed by the character of the white family, and, if I were Af-Am, I would have been frustrated with the portrayal of black families. Yes, there are problems in the Af-Am community (as in every community), but goodness...the movie seemed to condemn black culture as a whole. And, of course, the white, Christian family came to the rescue. It was a bit much. There were several black families watching the same showing as I did, and they showed no difficulty with it; they cheered, defended the white family when they were accused, etc. (FYI, black folk are far more interactive with movies in theaters than your average white audience - it's a thing to behold. I once saw a Denzel Washington movie in a predominantly black community, and the women were constantly shouting, "Look out, Denzel! He's behind you, honey!" I heard one lady crying when he died. It was awesome!) In any case, I thought they could have done more to minimize the racial element. It was obvious there was a racial angle to the story; there was no need to emphasize it. 3/5 stars



2. Sherlock Holmes -
Good, old-fashioned, fun. I'm a Holmes fan, and though no one will match Jeremy Brett as Holmes, Morton [correction: ROBERT] Downey Jr. did a good job, and Jude Law did well as Dr. Watson. The on-screen chemistry between them was good. I got lost in time and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Plot was good; special effects were good. There are some dark moments, portrayal of pagan/Satanic practices, but - not to give anything away - it's all good in the end. 4/5 stars



3. Star Trek -
I was totally surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. I didn't expect much (maybe that helped), especially since it was a J.J. Abrams movie (I HATE the TV show "Lost"). And, I think it helped that I grew up watching the original "Star Trek" series with Kirk, Spock, Scotty and the gang. In my book, Nimoy and Shatner really are cool. But, the characters really grew on me. Spock, Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov - it was very well done. And what seemed so much fun was when we would see the origin of various things we older folks know from the original series, e.g., why is Dr. McCoy called "Bones?" When Spock showed up, and said to the young Jim Kirk, "I am, and always shall be, your friend," I got choked up. I feel like I know these guys, like I was with them during all those adventures in the original series. I was surprised at how much the movie affected me emotionally, and how much old-fashioned fun the movie was. 4/5 stars



4. District 9 -
This movie disturbed me. It is a faux documentary, set in the future, when some refugee aliens arrive in earth's atmosphere and end up taking up residence in Johannesburg, South Africa. A young bureaucrat working for the bureau of Alien Affairs is assigned the task of removing the aliens, called "Prawns," from their slum (District 9) to a new location. In the process, he becomes infected with alien DNA, begins to transform into an alien, and begins to see things from a different perspective. I can't quite pinpoint why I was so upset by the move, but something made watching it an unpleasant experience. There's no sex, lots of blood and killing, including dismemberment and eating of humans, and some rough language (rated R). The aliens themselves are somewhat distastful to look at. Parallels with other occasions of human rights abuses are clear. 2/5 stars



5. Avatar 3-D -
An amazing experience! I got a little disoriented near the beginning and had to take a quick walk around the lobby, but I only missed about 5 minutes. Visually stunning, colorful, beautiful - the fantasy world created by this movie is breathtaking in its color, lifeforms and scenery. The story is pretty predictable. Humans are plundering a certain substance on a planet known as Pandora, and the indigenous population becomes hostile, especially when the humans begin destroying locations of cultural/religious significance. Capitalism and military bear the brunt of ideological criticism in this pantheist/ environmentalist/ spiritualist/ pagan propaganda piece. A paraplegic veteran Marine takes part in a new technology that allows humans to animate a genetically created alien body (the "avatar"). His mission is to infiltrate the na'vi community to gain intel. The na'vi are deeply spiritual, deeply connected to their eco-system, and to their ancestors; and they worship a deity named Eywa. It is interesting to me that na'vi is the Hebrew word for "prophet" and the name of Eywa is oddly similar to Yahweh, but that may be coincidental. I felt like I was watching a super-tech fantasy version of "Dances With Wolves." If you are looking for a deep plot, this is not the movie; if you are looking for a feast of the senses and dazzling special effects, this is the movie for you. If you want a movie with a good message, biblically speaking, this is certainly not it. 4/5 stars

3 comments:

Jean said...

Absolutely enjoyed the film. I think its Ritchie's best in years!

Anonymous said...

LOl... it's Robert Downey Jr. Morton Downey Jr would be a riot as Sherlock Holmes, but he's dead.

Crutch said...

Yeah, sorry...it is ROBERT Downey Jr. I knew that didn't look right, but I was in a hurry. Thanks.