Month: July 1999

Though Twin Falls Idaho falters just a tad near the end into a bit of melodrama, for the most part it is free of emotional manipulation, asking us merely to accept Blake and Francis as they are and recognize how they are mostly just like everyone else. Beautifully shot, beautifully scripted, beautifully performed, this is the debut of triple-whammy film talent — writing, directing, and acting — in Michael and Mark Polish.

Pi straddles the line between brilliance and pretension to the point that it’s hard to know on which side of that line it eventually rests. Though it ventures into challenging, intelligent subject matter that few other films dare to, its pacing and visual styling is often jarring and inappropriate.

The only thing I can come up with that would even begin to explain the mess that is The Haunting is that director Jan de Bont (Speed II) and writer David Self started out to make a parody of horror movies and halfway through changed their minds and decided to go for cheesy funhouse bangs.

Episode of any sitcom. Think of puppies and flowery Hallmark cards and inspirational posters of kittens hanging from tree limbs. In a diabetic coma yet? The Opposite of Sex is your antidote.

A film about sexual obsession. That’s how writer/director Stanley Kubrick described his last film during its ridiculously long production. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, Eyes Wide Shut is not that movie. Instead, it’s a tedious, preposterous story about how men use, misuse, and misunderstand female sexuality. And it’s not even the least bit sexy.

When I dwell on what might have been, I find myself disappointed with Arlington Road. But what’s actually there on the screen is still a cut above the typical summer blockbuster. Insidious and thought-provoking — though not in the way I hoped it would be — Arlington Road is an intriguing film, a cautionary tale for our uneasy times.

For what was American History X, and it’s hard to imagine that Norton didn’t realize how extraordinary his performance was. As Derek Vinyard, a skinhead leader of a white-power organization utterly transformed by a spell in prison, Norton is by turns frightening and heartbreaking, angry and serene.

I knew, however, from the opening credits, that we were in trouble. Something like half a dozen names are listed under Story and Screenplay. This is never a good sign. And sure enough, the movie feels cobbled together, characters are inconsistent, and action set pieces dominate over any attempt at a cohesive or original story.

Is this a good film? I’m not sure. It’s… bizarre. And not entirely in a good way. A romantic comedy about kidnapping with angels as bounty hunters. I bet it sounded just as weird on paper as it looks onscreen. Then again, any movie with Ewan McGregor can’t be all bad.