Poofterama (poofterama) wrote, @ 2009-03-31 16:25:00

mar 09 movie log (*DVDs courtesy of karmour!)
The Terence Davies Trilogy:
Children Rating: B
Madonna and Child Rating: A-
Death and Transfiguration Rating: A
To watch these shorts is to witness a distinct cinematic sensibility developing, from somewhat mechanical perambulation to luminous flight.

Magnolia (DVD*) Rating: A-
On second viewing, this emotional demolition derby feels strained and slightly ludicrous. But I still like.

Delicatessen (DVD*) Rating: C+
Perhaps there's something to be said for making quirky films for the sake of being quirky, but I won't be the one to say it.

Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (DVD*) Rating: A
I'm nagged by the feeling there's something quite wrong with what the film is saying (the equating of Sadean thought with Fascism), but I can't say exactly what, and the film is so assaultive I daren't revisit it to clarify matters.

From Dusk Till Dawn (DVD*) Rating: C-
This is where the clever pop thrills and piquant dialogue that you've come to expect from Tarantino came to die.

Departures Rating: C+
You know those schmaltzy Hallmark cards categorised under 'Sympathy', in which you would never find the word 'die'? Now this is the movie version of that. A death in the family, as much as we want to believe it, will not bring out the best in every one it affects. And surely some double standard is at play here: If this fairytale comes from a Hollywood studio (its ending is blockbuster-hammy), I bet nobody will be tweeting about it on Facebook.

Amores Perros (DVD*) Rating: B
I wish I had seen this before 'Babel', which was so good at glamourizing grit and appearing to have something earth-shatteringly profound to say, I assumed Iñárritu must have warmed up with this. But this is still one hell of a debut by anyone's standards.

Tong San Dai Hing (Fists of Fury) (DVD) Rating: B-
This is as bad as they come, but once I went with the stupidity of it all, I quite enjoyed myself. It prompted inane thoughts like: is the kungfu film Hong Kong cinema's answer to the Hollywood movie musical, and if so, is Bruce Lee the Hong Kong Gene Kelly?

Dawn of the Dead (DVD*) Rating: C+
I haven't seen the original 1978 George Romero classic, but I'm certain this remake will seem superfluous next to it.

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