Archive for category: Reviews

The dramatized story of a foreign correspondent who is neurotic, alcoholic, charmless and a chain-smoker, who injects herself into stories and cares more about the people whose “stories” she tells than the people in her life. And to what end? For her own fame? For the glory of her newspaper? Surely not to alleviate suffering in the world and end wars, because her stories have the impact of a mosquito bite on the political leaders and military-industrial complex that are responsible for the killing. However noble her intentions, it’s hard to sympathize as she continually exposes to danger the people she works with and disobeys the people she works for. I thought I was a Rosamund Pike fan, but this role turned me off – even with a totally gratuitous nude scene. This was more an advertisement for cigarettes than journalism. If not for my responsibilities as a blog reviewer I would have left about when she lit up for the 16th time.

I’ve awarded the non-Oscar for Best Director of a Documentary to Jimmy Chin for this engaging, gripping drama cum tutorial about Alex Honnold’s obsession to climb El Capitan in Yellowstone without a safety net – e.g., free solo. First, there’s the charming main character, wonderfully ingenuous and open for someone in his position: the best in the world, who calmly and openly faces death for the sake of experiencing perfection. His girlfriend, fortuitously, is easy on the eyes, as well. Second, the director inserts himself and his camera crew discreetly into the film, not to share the glory but to give the viewers a sense of how the amazing photography of Hannold’s ascent is accomplished. They also serve as on-screen stand-ins for us, especially when Mikey Schaefer turns his back, afraid to watch. Third is the dramatic story: how Alex prepared for years for his climb and then pulled it off, in less than four amazing hours. My face was wet with tears, and I felt I’d been through the proverbial wringer by the time we said goodbye to a world we had just discovered.

What a strange movie! The rambling plot could best be described as, A Day in the Life of Two Cold-blooded Gunslingers, c. 1851, Who Happened to be Brothers, Although You Wouldn’t Have Guessed It. The main narrative, the pursuit of an alchemist named Herman, petered out two-thirds of the way; then the climactic High Noon showdown evaporated completely when the target died prematurely of natural causes. What we were left with were some beautiful scenes of the (Spanish) West, some unresolved subplots involving horses and girlfriends, and an unconvincing relationship between the Sisters brothers: hard-as-nail Joaquin Phoenix and soft-as-butter John C. Reilly, neither terribly smart but both apparently impervious to gunfire. When there are three people in the theater, including two of us, at the 8 pm show, you wonder how and why a film like this gets made.

A beautiful period piece, with visuals of ladies in ruffles straight out of William Merritt Chase, plus a nod to de La Tour and some Sargent. When Bridget is seen on a train to Montana at the end, you realize that there hasn’t been any color or fresh air or distance in any shot that has come before. The film is helped by the fame of its plot: we want to know exactly why and how Lizzie Borden took an axe, etc. And it doesn’t hurt that we are watching Chloe Sevigny and the wondrous Kristen Stewart (who looks about 17) the whole time. While sufficiently engaging, the film doesn’t raise any goosebumps or grab your heart. The characters are without ambiguity – especially the men – and we know what’s coming. And when the job was neatly done…