movie diary assault - so much drama.

most of the "greatest films of all time" are dramas. interestingly enough, "the most boring movies of all time" are also dramas. it is a neutral genre where there might be some jokes, but not too many, some frightening moments, but not too many, and (usually) a whole lot of heart string tugging. how those heartstrings are tugged can either make a drama cheesy and laughable, powerful and moving, or just downright yawn-inducing. let's see if the following dramas i've seen recently insult, wow, or sleepify the audience (me) emotionally.

fitzcarraldo: german film by werner herzog (grizzly man, rescue dawn) where crazy dude is determined to build a massive opera house in the middle of the amazon but has to go through extreme lengths to get the money to do so. no models or special effects are used and they lug a giant mark twain ship over a mountain. various crew members reportedly quit/refused to do insane tasks like taking mark twain ship through amazon rapids that herzog wanted to do to make the film more authentic. he ended up prevailing by completing his movie, and fitz...well, it took me four days to get through the film. 0% insulted. 55% wowed. 45% sleepified. grade: B.

the killing fields: 1984 best picture nominee about a reporter played by law and order's sam waterston who investigates american bombings on the devastated cambodia during pol pot's regime with the help of a cambodian translator, who soon becomes his best friend. john malkovich plays a wacky photographer too. chaos ensues and their lives get in more and more danger. lots of storylines to plow through in one movie, and the cinematography/acting is oh so 80s, but the ending did bring me to real un-guilty tears. 0% insulted. 90% wowed. 10% sleepified. grade: A-.

kramer vs. kramer: best picture of 1979 winner pits the career crazy dustin hoffman against the ignored and housewife-not-by-choice meryl streep over their 6-year-old kid months after streep walks out on the two of them. i thought it would be innocuous, but i felt uncomfortable when the movie tried to make hoffman the clear protagonist and vilify streep, and hoffman tried to make the "women's lib? what about father's lib?" argument. so many moments where we're supposed to cry over the unfairness of the situation and i just felt like, "i wish i got to see more footage of how hoffman was a big jerk when his life was peachy and his wife did everything for him and his son." oh well, at least the third act tried to make things more balanced. 55% insulted. 30% wowed. 15% sleepified. grade: C-.

p.s.: neurotic and depressingly aging laura linney falls for neurotic and awkwardly youthful topher grace because he looks creepily like her ex-lover? gabriel byrne as her sex addict ex-husband who's still friends with her? how could i not be intrigued? so i kept watching. then came the way too long sex scenes featuring foreplay, thrusting, and climaxes to boot. then i laughed for the rest of the movie as they tried to make me feel sorry for average upper-middle class people who do dumb things or act melodramatically. 100% insulted. 0% wowed. 0% sleepified. grade: F.

the good shepherd: an anti-social matt damon has never been less expressive as a c.i.a. bigwig who...umm...never talks? never pays attention to his family, including wife angelina jolie? never trusts anyone? never does MUCH OF ANYTHING (assistant john turturro does it all for him) for three hours and tries to act everywhere between the ages of 18-50 using the same damn face. with so much stoicism, i can't really be insulted that much, but i sure can be wishing i was in bed. 10% insulted. 0% wowed. 90% sleepified. grade: F.

This entry was posted by chris, on Saturday, July 28, 2007. You can leave your response.