The time has come again where I've watched more movies than I am able to review in a timely manner. Below, I provide short synopses of the movies I've watched in the past couple weeks, including the best and worst aspects of each one.
Take Shelter
Plot: A blue collar family man (Michael Shannon) in rural Ohio has recurring nightmares about a devastating storm. He becomes obsessed with building a storm shelter in his backyard. But is he really having premonitions, or is he exhibiting signs of serious mental illness? And will his obsessions drive his family and friends away from him?
Best aspects: Michael Shannon's performance as Curtis, who is haunted by genuinely terrifying dreams, is astounding. The film is extremely tense and verges on horror, which I did not expect. This is a movie where you are guaranteed to be on the edge of your seat.
Worst aspects: Even though the ambiguous ending provides a pleasurable mystery, it's also frustrating. We're never given a definite answer to the mysteries of the film.
The French Connection
Plot: Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider play a pair of cops who work for the Narcotics Bureau in New York City. The pair "go rogue" in an effort to bust a group of drug smugglers who receive a shipment of heroin from France.
Best aspects: The car chase sequences, particularly the one where Hackman races a hijacked train, are as thrilling as I had heard. Hackman's performance as the amoral Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle is classic.
Worst aspects: The plot was occasionally difficult to follow (especially the parts about the French criminals). Cop and action movies aren't my favorite genre, but I'm glad I saw this one on the big screen. If I saw it on TV, I would not have enjoyed it nearly as much.
Verdict: A gritty, heart-pounding cop movie with one of the greatest chase sequences ever filmed. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The Avengers
Plot: A group of superheroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk, come together to fight Loki--a god from another planet who aims to steal an incredibly powerful energy source called the Tesseract.
Best aspects: Tony "Snark" Stark and the Hulk provide a lot of comic relief. The plot is relatively easy to follow even though I know almost nothing about the Marvel superheroes and their universe.
Worst aspects: Loki's background isn't explained very well, and I had pretty much no idea what the Tesseract was. It would have been helpful if I saw some of the superhero movies leading up to this one, particularly Thor.
Verdict: An enjoyable superhero film that I liked, but not nearly as much as X-Men: First Class or The Dark Night. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Yellow Submarine
Plot: An animated movie featuring the music of The Beatles. A man must save Pepperland from The Blue Meanies. He does so by traveling in a yellow submarine and picking up The Beatles for help.
Best aspects: The music (duh), especially "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", and "Eleanor Rigby".
Worst aspects: I'm not a fan of psychedelia, and the trippy animation just wasn't my thing. Also, it sucks that The Beatles didn't actually do the voices of their animated counterparts.
Verdict: As far as Beatles movies go, I'm more of A Hard Day's Night girl. My feelings about Yellow Submarine were similar to 2007's Across the Universe: great music, interesting visuals, but not a movie I'd watch over and over. 3 out of 5 stars.
The Wicker Man
Plot: A cop (Nicolas Cage) travels to a remote island to find a missing child. He ends up sucked into the ancient rites of the strange inhabitants of the island.
Best aspects: Making fun of Nic Cage's overwrought performance and the awful script.
Worst aspects: The entire movie. I have no idea how the actors were able to film this movie without dissolving into laughter at the terrible lines and wacky plot. Also, because I saw this on TV, they cut out the best scene: the bee helmet! "Not the bees! NOT THE BEES!!!"
Verdict: It's as bad as you've heard, but fun to mock. 2 out of 5 stars.
The Devil Rides Out
Plot: Christopher Lee plays an older man whose young friend, Simon, gets sucked into a devil worshipping cult led by Mocata, a man who uses mind control to attract followers.
Best aspects: The whole devil worshipping plot line is both scary and intellectual--the film is genuinely interesting in a Dan Brown kind of way. Also, Charles Gray (best known as the Narrator from The Rocky Horror Picture Show) plays the bad guy and is freakin' great at it.
Worst aspects: The awful makeup and special effects, including a giant tarantula sent to terrify Lee's character and his friends and a man in cheesy goat makeup representing Satan.
Verdict: A fun, kitschy horror movie that is surprisingly intriguing. 4 out of 5 stars.
The Vampire Lovers
Plot: A centuries old female vampire insinuates herself into the lives and homes of nubile young women and slowly drains their life force until they die.
Best aspects: I'm a straight girl, but I still have an appreciation for female beauty. The women in this movie are drop dead gorgeous (no pun intended), and the lesbian aspects of the movie give it a (tasteful) erotic kick.
Worst aspects: The lack of scares and bare bones plot (lesbian vampire kisses and kills young girls) makes the movie a lot less interesting than it could have been. As is, it amounts to soft-core porn.
Verdict: What you see is what you get: sexy young girls and their generous bosoms. Oh, and some vampire stuff too. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Possession
Plot: No, this isn't the Gwenyth Paltrow movie about the academics who fall in love. This Possession is a bizarre cult film about a marriage that falls apart and the horror and insanity that follow. It is a weird freaking movie that is (presumably) so personal to the filmmaker, that it is nearly impossible to find any meaning in it.
Best aspects: The scene where Isabelle Adjani freaks out in a subway station is pretty effective at visualizing the depths of despair and insanity. The absolutely no-holds-barred insanity of the movie is liberating in a way. You almost feel as if you, the viewer, are going crazy while watching it.
Worst aspects: Seeing Possession is one of the most unpleasant movie going experiences I've ever had. Not because the film is "bad" in the way that The Wicker Man is bad, but because it's so insane and unwatchable, with little to no ties to reality, that I didn't really get anything out of the movie. I just wanted it to be over.Verdict: If you like weird/experimental/cult/batshit crazy movies, you might get something out of Possession. I have a high tolerance for weird, but I think I've found my limit in this film. I can't recommend it. 1.5 out of 5 stars.
Possession: I guess I got a little more out of it than you did. It was quite crazy and seemed constructed out of mostly personal metaphors. But I sort of saw it as telling the story of the destruction of the males (son and husband) in an imploding family.
ReplyDeleteI saw on the Wikipedia page for the movie that the director was going through a messy divorce at the time. So I think that explains a lot of it (and its somewhat misogynous tone).
Yeah, I'm not surprised that the director was going through a divorce at the time and I agree that Possession is an incredibly personal movie. I guess my problem with it was that it was a combination of enigmatic and grating, so there was no way for me to get anything out of it. I'm ok with unpleasant and personal films (the movies of Lars von Trier, for example) and I'm ok with confusing, symbolic films. But both at the same time is too much for me. I'm glad that you got something out of it though!
Delete-Jenny