Film Grab Bag: Belated Film Reviews

Film Grab Bag: Belated Film Reviews
by Steve Finkelstein

I’M BAAAACK !! After a second self-imposed hiatus, (due to the fact that I’m writing a script; in my rather pretentious bio that I wrote for this site, I mentioned that half the population of L.A. is writing a script, including those who keep their scripts in shopping carts as they bed down near freeway underpasses.) Actually, there is a more insidious reason why I haven’t been contributing Babbalog tomes recently: the shocking paucity of good films in theatres of late. As of this writing I haven’t gone to a movie theatre in seven weeks, an unheard amount of time for a film junkie like me. Still, there were two films of note I’d like to review that came out during the last several months; first off, a review of the last film that I caught (eagle-eyed readers will remember that this was seven weeks ago :) )

Sin City

the Robert Rodriguez-Frank Miller film, based on Miller’s film noir graphic novels, ( a snobby term for comic books ), is a highly entertaining “six pack” film, particularly for atavistic males like myself who revel in the politically incorrect gobs of over-the top violence and female nudity the film gleefully serves in large doses. Sin City deals with stories and characters that take place in a corruption and crime riddled metropolis. Miller’s comic books were an homage to the hard bitten crime fiction, comic books and movies that were so popular after World War II. Miller & co-director Rodriguez get wonderful performances from an ensemble cast: Bruce Willis, Benecio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba and particularly Mickey Rourke (a great comeback role for him; he steals the show as a deformed thug out to avenge the death of his hooker girlfriend).

What is amazing about this film is, except for the actors, the entire film is digital. The black & white CGI imagery is truly stunning, with some astounding shots. Unlike the phony CGI found in last year’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the black & white parallel universe in the film is totally convincing and a technological and aesthetic triumph.

Where the film does fall down a bit is in its plotting. The storylines tend to be thin, weak and adolescent, causing the viewer to be somewhat emotionally detached at times. It’s obvious that Miller wanted to convey the essence of noir; instead it comes off as noir cliff notes. Also, at two hours, the film is twenty minutes too long; great noir films of the
past told their stories in movies with far more compact running times than that. Still, I highly enjoyed this film and would recommend it to those with a taste for this kind of fare.

Downfall

I’m happy to say that this German film, which depicts the last ten days of the Hitler’s Third Reich in 1945, is the best film I’ve seen in five years. The film takes place in war ravaged Berlin and Hitler’s bunker, and is thoroughly engrossing. The film was a 2004 nominee for best foreign language film, but didn’t cop the Oscar (it was robbed; shoulda got it). The film has spectacular battle scenes and its attention to detail gives it a documentary feel. Hitler is neither whitewashed, or depicted as a psychopathic caricature; rather it shows that the essence of evil resided in a human being that for all the power he wielded, had a personality that often could be insipid, dreary and commonplace; the perfect example of what Hannah Arendt called “the banality of evil.” Bruno Ganz is mesmerizing as Hitler. I’d advise readers to run to catch this film, which is one of the best foreign language films I’ve ever seen.

Speaking of great foreign language films, here is an addenda to my lists of classic foreign language films found in previous articles :

Los Olvidados (1950 – Mexico, Luis Bunuel)

See you sooner.