4/1/10
The Tie Breaker
So I've made my decision on how to handle tie breakers. I'm going to take the highest scoring film of the four of whatever round I am in and just go with that director. So in this round that would be Out of Africa for Pollack. Thus pushing Pollack on to meet Robert Altman in the next round.
Round Six - the most nail-bitey of the nail-biters
The competition thus far has not presented me with extremely difficult choices. This will be the first review that I begin without knowing who the winner is. I will have to find out based upon how I write about the two directors, both extremely talented and well-loved directors: George Hill and Sydney Pollack.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
I loved this movie. It was fun, exciting, interesting, and layered. I enjoyed the character interactions, the effortless humor, the subtle sadness and interesting shots. We experience a good guys/bad guys dynamic without ever getting a glimpse at the bad guys chasing our heroes. It's as if there's a more typical western taking place at their end of the chase, framing them as wholesome and honorable lawmen. In the view of Butch and the Kid, they are invisible, powerful ghosts threatening to end their outlaw way of life. Redford and Newman work seamlessly together and manage to fit perfectly into any era they represent in their films. In terms of timelessness, this movie scores big time because I felt excited to be watching it throughout the film.
Tootsie
I appreciate that Pollack is exploring feminism through this film and attempting to articulate a message. Dustin Hoffman plays an intense, committed actor (not such a big stretch) who dresses as a woman to gain a role on a soap opera (much more of a stretch). Hoffman is delightful to see playing a "woman" and as he experiences life as a woman, he begins to notice the subtle and experience the more blatant forms of sexism present in our society. The film brings attention to some interesting challenges women face, including high expectations regarding normative beauty, the use of names like honey, sugar, doll, and toots instead of a woman's name, and judgments of strong, powerful women as masculine. But on many other more serious issues, they miss an opportunity to address and fully investigate the power dynamics affecting these exchanges. For example, one of the men interested in "Tootsie" waits outside of her apartment and manipulates his way inside. There alone with her, he professes that "he's never wanted a woman so much" and begins to try and kiss her. Hoffman jumps on a couch, the older man grabbing him from behind as he struggles. The cross-dressing actor's male roommate (played excellently by Bill Murray) shows up and inadvertently saves the day. After the other man has left, Hoffman (taking off his wig) explains, "No, I was in real trouble...you didn't see the look on his face, if you hadn't shown up I would have been a headline tomorrow." Basically, this piece of dialogue shares that Hoffman was almost raped or possibly killed when the man found out that he was - OH FUCK- actually attracted to a man. This brings up another important point that I feel the movie fails with; homophobia is rampant in the movie from characters we are meant to care for and respect. In order to keep this post shortish, I'm going to only point out one more flaw in this otherwise well-crafted film: Hoffman's character never resolves the terrible things he did to the friend he begins sleeping with over the course of the movie. He realizes, very obviously, that men treat women like shit by lying to them and then lets his friend find out the truth on television (and then never interacts with her again for all we know). He apologizes and makes up with the woman he fell in love with (the one he treated very well as another woman) and never even shows great remorse or concern for the woman he screwed over and lied to as a man. If he made this great realization that men shouldn't do this, isn't it sort of strange that he still does?
The Sting
Again we see Redford and Newman paired up in a brilliantly executed film about those living outside the boundaries of lawful society. As two con-men, the duo again slips comfortably into another time period, building a believable and meaningful relationship with ease. Hill weaves a story for the audience that is intricate and complex, surprising the first-time viewer and delighting the repeat viewer. Similar to Butch Cassidy, the story of the Sting is broken into clear parts (in Butch Cassidy each part was divided by a happy musical montage), each named with a title of the con the partners are undertaking. The music in this film is perfect, the acting excellent, the sets incredible, and the story flawless. If this film has set out to capture your imagination and thrill you, it has succeeded with amazing brilliance. If it strives to convey a deep life message, the only one I can find is that friendship is valuable. It's an original bromance, a buddy comadventure that everyone can enjoy.
Out of Africa
I'm not usually very interested in romantic dramas, but this movie was spectacular. It manages to tell the story of a powerful, important woman through her relationship with a man without devaluing her individuality and impact on the story. Meryl Streep is absolutely stunning in every way in this film; she is gorgeous, compelling, believable, and impressive. She is an incredibly deft actress, and she completely fills the role of Karen von-Blixen and charges through the movie with force that cannot go unnoticed. I am so glad that it was filmed on location in Africa, because it captures the deeper layer of the love story of the film. We fall in love with the beauty of Africa just as Karen does, we see the wild, vibrant, and precious Africa that the characters love and though frightening at first, it becomes the most perfect setting for the movie. As Karen grows more comfortable and touches the land more often, we are glad that she was a part of Africa, though eventually forced to leave. It is important to have told the story of this amazing woman, and her love of Redford's character is secondary to the message of who she is and what Africa meant to her. It is a story of lost love, of lost home, and of telling stories that are worth listening to.
The major dilemma with this choice is that I want to see more movies from both of these directors. I was so impressed and fascinated with the movies I hadn't seen before (Butch Cassidy and Out of Africa) and had a great time more closely considering the ones I already loved (The Sting and Tootsie). This is also the first time that we are unsure whether or not we agree on the outcome of the match-up. This could potentially be the turning point of this venture, when we need two separate BIG BOARDS.
So who is it, Batgirl, who wins this round? Whether it's completely fair or not, I'm going to have to go with Pollack. I feel that he did two very different types of films very well while what we saw of Hill were two very similar films (that were amazing), showing us that as a director he is very good at one thing. I'm hesitant in this decision because of the issues I have with Tootsie's message, but I appreciate Pollack's intentionality in his films. I will have to find time to see George Hill's other films (between the 500 or so films that we've committed to watching in this showdown). Sorry, Mr. Hill, you impressed me and delighted me as a movie-goer, but the director who has me really wanting to see more is Pollack.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
I loved this movie. It was fun, exciting, interesting, and layered. I enjoyed the character interactions, the effortless humor, the subtle sadness and interesting shots. We experience a good guys/bad guys dynamic without ever getting a glimpse at the bad guys chasing our heroes. It's as if there's a more typical western taking place at their end of the chase, framing them as wholesome and honorable lawmen. In the view of Butch and the Kid, they are invisible, powerful ghosts threatening to end their outlaw way of life. Redford and Newman work seamlessly together and manage to fit perfectly into any era they represent in their films. In terms of timelessness, this movie scores big time because I felt excited to be watching it throughout the film.
Tootsie
I appreciate that Pollack is exploring feminism through this film and attempting to articulate a message. Dustin Hoffman plays an intense, committed actor (not such a big stretch) who dresses as a woman to gain a role on a soap opera (much more of a stretch). Hoffman is delightful to see playing a "woman" and as he experiences life as a woman, he begins to notice the subtle and experience the more blatant forms of sexism present in our society. The film brings attention to some interesting challenges women face, including high expectations regarding normative beauty, the use of names like honey, sugar, doll, and toots instead of a woman's name, and judgments of strong, powerful women as masculine. But on many other more serious issues, they miss an opportunity to address and fully investigate the power dynamics affecting these exchanges. For example, one of the men interested in "Tootsie" waits outside of her apartment and manipulates his way inside. There alone with her, he professes that "he's never wanted a woman so much" and begins to try and kiss her. Hoffman jumps on a couch, the older man grabbing him from behind as he struggles. The cross-dressing actor's male roommate (played excellently by Bill Murray) shows up and inadvertently saves the day. After the other man has left, Hoffman (taking off his wig) explains, "No, I was in real trouble...you didn't see the look on his face, if you hadn't shown up I would have been a headline tomorrow." Basically, this piece of dialogue shares that Hoffman was almost raped or possibly killed when the man found out that he was - OH FUCK- actually attracted to a man. This brings up another important point that I feel the movie fails with; homophobia is rampant in the movie from characters we are meant to care for and respect. In order to keep this post shortish, I'm going to only point out one more flaw in this otherwise well-crafted film: Hoffman's character never resolves the terrible things he did to the friend he begins sleeping with over the course of the movie. He realizes, very obviously, that men treat women like shit by lying to them and then lets his friend find out the truth on television (and then never interacts with her again for all we know). He apologizes and makes up with the woman he fell in love with (the one he treated very well as another woman) and never even shows great remorse or concern for the woman he screwed over and lied to as a man. If he made this great realization that men shouldn't do this, isn't it sort of strange that he still does?
The Sting
Again we see Redford and Newman paired up in a brilliantly executed film about those living outside the boundaries of lawful society. As two con-men, the duo again slips comfortably into another time period, building a believable and meaningful relationship with ease. Hill weaves a story for the audience that is intricate and complex, surprising the first-time viewer and delighting the repeat viewer. Similar to Butch Cassidy, the story of the Sting is broken into clear parts (in Butch Cassidy each part was divided by a happy musical montage), each named with a title of the con the partners are undertaking. The music in this film is perfect, the acting excellent, the sets incredible, and the story flawless. If this film has set out to capture your imagination and thrill you, it has succeeded with amazing brilliance. If it strives to convey a deep life message, the only one I can find is that friendship is valuable. It's an original bromance, a buddy comadventure that everyone can enjoy.
Out of Africa
I'm not usually very interested in romantic dramas, but this movie was spectacular. It manages to tell the story of a powerful, important woman through her relationship with a man without devaluing her individuality and impact on the story. Meryl Streep is absolutely stunning in every way in this film; she is gorgeous, compelling, believable, and impressive. She is an incredibly deft actress, and she completely fills the role of Karen von-Blixen and charges through the movie with force that cannot go unnoticed. I am so glad that it was filmed on location in Africa, because it captures the deeper layer of the love story of the film. We fall in love with the beauty of Africa just as Karen does, we see the wild, vibrant, and precious Africa that the characters love and though frightening at first, it becomes the most perfect setting for the movie. As Karen grows more comfortable and touches the land more often, we are glad that she was a part of Africa, though eventually forced to leave. It is important to have told the story of this amazing woman, and her love of Redford's character is secondary to the message of who she is and what Africa meant to her. It is a story of lost love, of lost home, and of telling stories that are worth listening to.
The major dilemma with this choice is that I want to see more movies from both of these directors. I was so impressed and fascinated with the movies I hadn't seen before (Butch Cassidy and Out of Africa) and had a great time more closely considering the ones I already loved (The Sting and Tootsie). This is also the first time that we are unsure whether or not we agree on the outcome of the match-up. This could potentially be the turning point of this venture, when we need two separate BIG BOARDS.
So who is it, Batgirl, who wins this round? Whether it's completely fair or not, I'm going to have to go with Pollack. I feel that he did two very different types of films very well while what we saw of Hill were two very similar films (that were amazing), showing us that as a director he is very good at one thing. I'm hesitant in this decision because of the issues I have with Tootsie's message, but I appreciate Pollack's intentionality in his films. I will have to find time to see George Hill's other films (between the 500 or so films that we've committed to watching in this showdown). Sorry, Mr. Hill, you impressed me and delighted me as a movie-goer, but the director who has me really wanting to see more is Pollack.
The Triple Redford
Well that title sounds kinda dirty. In our 6th round we have the match up of George Hill and Sydney Pollack. For George Hill we have Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and for Pollack we have Out of Africa and Tootsie. Needless to say based on these films this is no Tarrantino vs. Michael Bay. In fact this has easily been the hardest round we've had so far. Both of these guys are top notch and produced two great and I mean great films.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - This was the first of the two great Hill, Redford, Newman match-ups and it is near pitch perfect. It's the story of two of the wild west's greatest outlaws and their struggle against a society that tries to get them to play by their rules. Early on you can see a clear connection between the outlaws and the 1960's culture that this film was born out of. The allegory is almost palpable. Newman and Redford are perfect as a duo with Newman playing the funnier easy going quick talker and Redford playing his strong silent straight man. The two quickly get into a showdown with the railroad's richest financier J.P. Morgan who takes a personal affront to their train robbing and sends the world's greatest collection of law men after them. This leads to one of the best chase sequences in any film I have ever seen and soon it becomes obvious that for Newman and Redford there is no escape. This is probably the strongest sequences of the film: two perfectly played characters running from situation to situation getting more and more desperate and Newman always being able to diffuse the tension with a hilarious line. The tension only breaks after the pair make a desperate plunge off a cliff and then run off to Argentina. They bring with them the love story of the film and we get introduced to one of the most clever and complex love triangles I have seen in any movie. The end sneaks up on you but makes perfect sense and the actual ending is one of the most shocking and violent I have seen so far in the contest. The one last thing I want to mention about this film is the music, which was amazing and brought each scene up to a new level that was near perfect and I doubt some of the longer sequences would have been as effective without it.
Genre - Western 9/10
Characters - 7/10
Mood, Theme, Ambiance - 8/10
Inventiveness - 9/10
Film Quality - 9/10
Total: 42/50
Tootsie - This was the only film that I hadn't seen prior to this round beginning and I certainly enjoyed it. It's a comedy starring Dustin Hoffman as an out of work actor trying to find work wherever he can get it. Through a turn of events he manages to get a part on a soap opera after he dresses like a woman to prove a point to his agent. This sets off a series of events that leads to Hoffman being stuck in a ridiculous love pentagram. The entire films works as a way for Hoffman who is a bit of a stereotypical womanizer to remove himself from his normal treatments of women and allows him to connect with a more equal feminist approach to relationships. This is seen most clearly in the men who become interested in Hoffman when he's dressed as Tootsie. The first is the Director of the soap opera Ron Carlisel (Dabney Coleman) who treats women very similarly to Hoffman himself mainly as sex objects spurred on by his position of power over them this treatment becomes bad enough that his girlfriend and love interest of Hoffman in the movie (Jessica Lang) eventually is driven to near alcoholism. Then there is the completely oblivious John Van Dorn (George Gaynes) who can't seem to notice how woman are simply not interested in his advances and leads him to near rape. The final of the trio is the love interest's father Les Nichols (Charles Durning) who is old fashioned and sees woman mainly as complementary to the male role this leads him to propose to Tootsie after their first date. These three experiences lead Hoffman to see the error of his ways and makes him a better man. Needless to say the plot is nearly perfect and hilarious at times. But the overall message of the film is a bit lacking when the more feminist messages get lost is Hoffman's change. A few of the characters and more serious situations are in the end dealt with by one liners and laugh situations which when dealing with topics like rape doesn't really work.
Genre - Comedy 8/10
Characters 8/10
Mood Theme Ambiance 6/10
Inventiveness 7/10
Film Quality 8/10
Total: 37/50
The Sting - The sting is a fantastic movie. A period gangster piece set in 1930's Chicago that reunites Hill, Newman, and Redford. While similar in style and quality this film is far more light hearted then Sundance Kid. Redford and Newman unite to play a big scam on a notorious mob boss who rules all of Chicago after a good friend of theirs is slain. But their adversary is overbearing and murderous and the two need to find a way to escape with their lives. The plot similar to Tootsie is near flawless with each moment finely crafted. The mood and ambiance of the film while for the most part superficial does say a bit about the nature of good and evil and friendship under pressure. The music manages to be even better than Sundance which I didn't think possible and manages to push the film along through the slower sequences and tie together the quicker moving parts. There is not much else to say about the Sting. Every part is well crafted and the plot while self contained manages to hide the twists from the audience in a near perfect way that never feels dishonest. You feel in on the whole thing from the beginning only to learn that the director is effortlessly ahead of you at every point. This film basically becomes the blue print for every plot driven thriller that follows it.
Genre - Crime Thriller 8/10
Characters - 8/10
Mood Ambiance Theme - 7/10
Inventiveness - 8/10
Film Quality - 8/10
Total - 39/50
Out of Africa - This is the most epic of epic romances. Meryl Streep plays a Danish baroness whose heart has been broken by a heartless lover in Denmark so she decides to marry his friendly brother and run away with him to Africa to start new life. There are not enough words in the English language to describe the beauty of Africa and Pollack uses every gorgeous location to its fullest advantage. Streep is near perfect in for what will for me become the measuring stick for every other film she is in. The film trails her perspective and just as Africa feels dangerous, beautiful, and erotic the audience feels each moment emanating from her. Her counterpart in the film is Robert Redford who plays the only man who can match wits with Streep's character and she falls madly in love with him. The only problem is that Redford refuses to be held by any woman. The harder she tries the further it drives him away. Each character is played accurately and neither is given an advantage in the audience's perspective. The inevitable confrontation comes when the rest of Streep's life begins to fall apart and we she that she is looking for someone to lean on unfortunately for her Redford will not be that man. After their break up her life spirals further out of control and eventually she must leave Africa. The end is sad as most romances end up being but perfectly toned and unexpected. The story plays upon the interesting topic of possession and Africa as the perfect garden of Eden landscape that all the countries of Europe fight war after war to control . Streep can't keep Redford and have him remain what he is meant to be just as Africa can't be conquered and remain what enticed so many to come to Africa.
Genre -Epic Romance 9/10
Characters - 9/10
Mood Ambiance Theme - 9/10
Inventiveness - 8/10
Film Quality - 9/10
Total: 44/50
So that brings an average score of for 40.5 Hill and an average of for 40.5 Pollack. Well shit now I've got to figure out how to handle a fucking tie.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - This was the first of the two great Hill, Redford, Newman match-ups and it is near pitch perfect. It's the story of two of the wild west's greatest outlaws and their struggle against a society that tries to get them to play by their rules. Early on you can see a clear connection between the outlaws and the 1960's culture that this film was born out of. The allegory is almost palpable. Newman and Redford are perfect as a duo with Newman playing the funnier easy going quick talker and Redford playing his strong silent straight man. The two quickly get into a showdown with the railroad's richest financier J.P. Morgan who takes a personal affront to their train robbing and sends the world's greatest collection of law men after them. This leads to one of the best chase sequences in any film I have ever seen and soon it becomes obvious that for Newman and Redford there is no escape. This is probably the strongest sequences of the film: two perfectly played characters running from situation to situation getting more and more desperate and Newman always being able to diffuse the tension with a hilarious line. The tension only breaks after the pair make a desperate plunge off a cliff and then run off to Argentina. They bring with them the love story of the film and we get introduced to one of the most clever and complex love triangles I have seen in any movie. The end sneaks up on you but makes perfect sense and the actual ending is one of the most shocking and violent I have seen so far in the contest. The one last thing I want to mention about this film is the music, which was amazing and brought each scene up to a new level that was near perfect and I doubt some of the longer sequences would have been as effective without it.
Genre - Western 9/10
Characters - 7/10
Mood, Theme, Ambiance - 8/10
Inventiveness - 9/10
Film Quality - 9/10
Total: 42/50
Tootsie - This was the only film that I hadn't seen prior to this round beginning and I certainly enjoyed it. It's a comedy starring Dustin Hoffman as an out of work actor trying to find work wherever he can get it. Through a turn of events he manages to get a part on a soap opera after he dresses like a woman to prove a point to his agent. This sets off a series of events that leads to Hoffman being stuck in a ridiculous love pentagram. The entire films works as a way for Hoffman who is a bit of a stereotypical womanizer to remove himself from his normal treatments of women and allows him to connect with a more equal feminist approach to relationships. This is seen most clearly in the men who become interested in Hoffman when he's dressed as Tootsie. The first is the Director of the soap opera Ron Carlisel (Dabney Coleman) who treats women very similarly to Hoffman himself mainly as sex objects spurred on by his position of power over them this treatment becomes bad enough that his girlfriend and love interest of Hoffman in the movie (Jessica Lang) eventually is driven to near alcoholism. Then there is the completely oblivious John Van Dorn (George Gaynes) who can't seem to notice how woman are simply not interested in his advances and leads him to near rape. The final of the trio is the love interest's father Les Nichols (Charles Durning) who is old fashioned and sees woman mainly as complementary to the male role this leads him to propose to Tootsie after their first date. These three experiences lead Hoffman to see the error of his ways and makes him a better man. Needless to say the plot is nearly perfect and hilarious at times. But the overall message of the film is a bit lacking when the more feminist messages get lost is Hoffman's change. A few of the characters and more serious situations are in the end dealt with by one liners and laugh situations which when dealing with topics like rape doesn't really work.
Genre - Comedy 8/10
Characters 8/10
Mood Theme Ambiance 6/10
Inventiveness 7/10
Film Quality 8/10
Total: 37/50
The Sting - The sting is a fantastic movie. A period gangster piece set in 1930's Chicago that reunites Hill, Newman, and Redford. While similar in style and quality this film is far more light hearted then Sundance Kid. Redford and Newman unite to play a big scam on a notorious mob boss who rules all of Chicago after a good friend of theirs is slain. But their adversary is overbearing and murderous and the two need to find a way to escape with their lives. The plot similar to Tootsie is near flawless with each moment finely crafted. The mood and ambiance of the film while for the most part superficial does say a bit about the nature of good and evil and friendship under pressure. The music manages to be even better than Sundance which I didn't think possible and manages to push the film along through the slower sequences and tie together the quicker moving parts. There is not much else to say about the Sting. Every part is well crafted and the plot while self contained manages to hide the twists from the audience in a near perfect way that never feels dishonest. You feel in on the whole thing from the beginning only to learn that the director is effortlessly ahead of you at every point. This film basically becomes the blue print for every plot driven thriller that follows it.
Genre - Crime Thriller 8/10
Characters - 8/10
Mood Ambiance Theme - 7/10
Inventiveness - 8/10
Film Quality - 8/10
Total - 39/50
Out of Africa - This is the most epic of epic romances. Meryl Streep plays a Danish baroness whose heart has been broken by a heartless lover in Denmark so she decides to marry his friendly brother and run away with him to Africa to start new life. There are not enough words in the English language to describe the beauty of Africa and Pollack uses every gorgeous location to its fullest advantage. Streep is near perfect in for what will for me become the measuring stick for every other film she is in. The film trails her perspective and just as Africa feels dangerous, beautiful, and erotic the audience feels each moment emanating from her. Her counterpart in the film is Robert Redford who plays the only man who can match wits with Streep's character and she falls madly in love with him. The only problem is that Redford refuses to be held by any woman. The harder she tries the further it drives him away. Each character is played accurately and neither is given an advantage in the audience's perspective. The inevitable confrontation comes when the rest of Streep's life begins to fall apart and we she that she is looking for someone to lean on unfortunately for her Redford will not be that man. After their break up her life spirals further out of control and eventually she must leave Africa. The end is sad as most romances end up being but perfectly toned and unexpected. The story plays upon the interesting topic of possession and Africa as the perfect garden of Eden landscape that all the countries of Europe fight war after war to control . Streep can't keep Redford and have him remain what he is meant to be just as Africa can't be conquered and remain what enticed so many to come to Africa.
Genre -Epic Romance 9/10
Characters - 9/10
Mood Ambiance Theme - 9/10
Inventiveness - 8/10
Film Quality - 9/10
Total: 44/50
So that brings an average score of for 40.5 Hill and an average of for 40.5 Pollack. Well shit now I've got to figure out how to handle a fucking tie.
Reservoiarmageddon
Round five presents to us a David and Goliath type confrontation, but I don't think that the special effects Bay has in his slingshot are going to knock down Tarantino. I'm going to try and go through this quickly, Trojan Horse already did a thorough job of criticizing Michael Bay.
The Rock
I've seen this movie so many times and never really considered it's quality. I don't go see Michael Bay movies to get high intellect, but just for a fun action flick. The movie stops being fun once you start to notice Nick Cage's terrible acting (ugh, most annoying voice ever), the incredibly contrived and ridiculous plot devices, and the over-the-top dramatic scenes and screen-shots. The car chase sequence reminded me of a level in Burnout (the aim of that game is to cause as much monetary damage as possible with a car crash). The nostalgia factor of this movie was high, but other than laughing at a few lines, I didn't enjoy it when I paid too much attention.
Reservoir Dogs
When I saw this movie the first time I was overwhelmed by the violence. Watching it closely, the violence still shocked me, but I noticed more of the fascinating aspects of the dialogue and length of non-violent scenes. Tarantino is adept at creating interesting characters and then allowing them the space to talk, and the choice of actors was fantastic as well.
Armageddon
I realized when closely watching this film that it is simply a series of overly dramatized versions of what WOULD NOT HAPPEN if a meteor were headed towards Earth. This movie did nothing original and interesting for me, and again, I'd watched it a lot when I was younger and it first came out. I used to love this movie, a child drunk on over-saturated film and knee-jerk trained emotional reactions to trite images. I've realized that this movie was a very preemptive campaign advertisement for George W. Bush. That is all.
Pulp Fiction
I have loved this movie since I first saw it at the likely inappropriate age of 12 (or maybe 11, I'm not sure). The changed sequence of events captivated me, the characters enchanted me, and the entire movie gave me striking images that wouldn't leave me. The red marker on skin, the gold light shining from the case, the intensity of Samuel L's eyes, and the cab driver's lips when she said "Butch." It's still engaging for me after multiple viewings and growth in maturity.
Michael Bay produces BIG FUCKING MOVIES. But he hides the lack of substance and novelty with special effects. And like so much makeup, it begins to rub off and reveal the plain skin underneath and we discover we were looking at someone trying to be someone else. I'm interested to see how Quentin Tarantino will hold up against John Huston in the next round. Thanks for playing, Bay. Better luck next time.
The Rock
I've seen this movie so many times and never really considered it's quality. I don't go see Michael Bay movies to get high intellect, but just for a fun action flick. The movie stops being fun once you start to notice Nick Cage's terrible acting (ugh, most annoying voice ever), the incredibly contrived and ridiculous plot devices, and the over-the-top dramatic scenes and screen-shots. The car chase sequence reminded me of a level in Burnout (the aim of that game is to cause as much monetary damage as possible with a car crash). The nostalgia factor of this movie was high, but other than laughing at a few lines, I didn't enjoy it when I paid too much attention.
Reservoir Dogs
When I saw this movie the first time I was overwhelmed by the violence. Watching it closely, the violence still shocked me, but I noticed more of the fascinating aspects of the dialogue and length of non-violent scenes. Tarantino is adept at creating interesting characters and then allowing them the space to talk, and the choice of actors was fantastic as well.
Armageddon
I realized when closely watching this film that it is simply a series of overly dramatized versions of what WOULD NOT HAPPEN if a meteor were headed towards Earth. This movie did nothing original and interesting for me, and again, I'd watched it a lot when I was younger and it first came out. I used to love this movie, a child drunk on over-saturated film and knee-jerk trained emotional reactions to trite images. I've realized that this movie was a very preemptive campaign advertisement for George W. Bush. That is all.
Pulp Fiction
I have loved this movie since I first saw it at the likely inappropriate age of 12 (or maybe 11, I'm not sure). The changed sequence of events captivated me, the characters enchanted me, and the entire movie gave me striking images that wouldn't leave me. The red marker on skin, the gold light shining from the case, the intensity of Samuel L's eyes, and the cab driver's lips when she said "Butch." It's still engaging for me after multiple viewings and growth in maturity.
Michael Bay produces BIG FUCKING MOVIES. But he hides the lack of substance and novelty with special effects. And like so much makeup, it begins to rub off and reveal the plain skin underneath and we discover we were looking at someone trying to be someone else. I'm interested to see how Quentin Tarantino will hold up against John Huston in the next round. Thanks for playing, Bay. Better luck next time.
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