Bolt
Post
A very good, very conventional story of love and family. The inspired element is the premise: a TV dog who actually thinks he has all the superpowers his character has. In other words, this is based in great part on the actual scientific fact that dogs are loyal, brave, and moronic.Yes, it's true what you've heard: the hamster steals the show. Waste-of-time short, "Tokyo Mater," starring characters from Cars. Oh, and by the way: if you're going to see this, there's no particular reason to insist on the 3D version: it was OK, but the story's the thing.
Cadillac Records
Post
Like every other film about the music biz, whether based on fact or purely fictional, this is about (1) the inspiration, (2) the meteoric rise, (3) the self-destructive behavior (including, as a matter of course, [A] substance abuse, [B] love abuse, and [C] professional-relationship abuse), and (4) the sad decline, but still (5) the legacy.What makes this worth seeing, despite the clichés, are the performances, particularly by Eamonn Walker in a relatively small but thrilling role as Howlin' Wolf; Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters; Beyoncé Knowles as Etta James; and Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess. And, of course, the music.
Trailers
- Monsters vs. Aliens--Some nice stuff for us old farts, like a George C. Scott-in-Strangelove takeoff; wouldn't rule it out.
- Up--Cranky old guy's house takes off with balloons; I assume it must be based on some much-loved kids' book.
- Notorious--No, not a Hitchcock rerelease; it's about B.I.G.
- Gran Torino--I'm not one of those Clint-can-do-no-wrongers, but this looks pretty damned good.
- Madea Goes to Jail--What does it say when the "trailer" seems actually to be outtakes?
- Not Easily Broken--Good title, but I'm skeptical.
1 comment:
Besides the outstanding performances (Howlin' Wolf literally made me sit up and take notice), I think it did a better job than most such pix at leaving some of the messiness unresolved. So overall I'd call it "better than most."
But I wish that it hadn't left the impression that The Story of Chess is just this one guy and a handful of performers. I'm sure it was dramatically smoother to cut his brother, and I know they couldn't focus on everyone--and maybe Bo Diddley would have taken too much attention--but it would have been nice to get the sense that there were other artists (lots of them), not to mention subdivisions. I would have liked just a little background noise, a sense that other stuff was going on.
Post a Comment