Velvet Goldmine

This is a glittery, sequined, spandex-filled tale of glam rock, its idols, followers, and the scene in which they thrive. Christian Bale (Batman) plays a reporter who, given an assignment to cover the 10-year anniversary of a Bowie-esque glam rock star's career-ending faked public assassination, finds himself in the midst of countless suppressed memories. While investigating the disappearance of this fallen hero Bale is reminded of a self he has stifled for years - tight, revealing outfits; drug use; the shame of his parents; a love affair with a famous Iggy Pop-ish American glam rocker (Ewan McGregor); a lifestyle of shallow relationships; sexual confusion; freedom; and very few consequences. Has Bale's character lost his true self by taking a responsible job? Threaded throughout with both allusion and direct references to Oscar Wilde - was he gay/bi? Maybe I learned something from this film and, told in the Citizen Kane this-has-happened-now-go-back-and-report-on-it-tell-the-story format, Velvet Goldmine is occasionally entertaining, though sections of the film were overdone, held too long or seemingly irrelevant.

Um?
2.5 out of 5
Buy this film: Velvet Goldmine

Plot: 2
Imagery: 3
Originality: 2
Soundtrack: 4 Buy the Soundtrack or download it
Overall: 2.5

Brigands - Chapter VII

This subtle Georgian satire is seemingly about the violence of mankind and the unending cycle of history repeating itself. Having never before seen any of director Otar Iosseliani's films nor read anything about Brigands - Chapter VII we have to admit that for most of the plot we were baffled as to the point. The movie is framed in a small cinema, where the projectionist is drunk and puts the reels on in the wrong order so the story slips between multiple time periods. For the most part the same actors are used for similar roles in each era but also some new ones are mixed in each time, leaving little in the way of continuity for the untrained eye to find. The main actor, at least the one the camera seems to focus on the most, plays a modern bum, a Stalinist goon, and a medieval royal. There is also a massacre of middle-aged, naked, partying French arms dealers by a child.

Straight-faced absurdity, presented through a combination of theatrical acting and a setting where human life has entirely lost its value, permeates almost every minute of the film. The picture quality is bad (the film looks like it was initially recorder onto a VHS from TV and then transfered to DVD), leaving the strongest impression of all on the viewer: low budget PBS daytime fodder. Which is, quite possibly, the only accurate idea in this review. Blame it on the subtitles if you want, but the movie was really that confusing.

BOOOOOOOO!
1.5 out of 5
Buy this movie:Brigands - Chapter VII

Plot: 1
Imagery: 2
Originality: 1
Soundtrack: 1
Overall: 1.5

The Insider

The true story surrounding CBS's 60 Minutes interview with ex-tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand (played by Russel Crow) who, despite signing a confidentiality agreement upon his termination, took the higher moral ground, risking everything to expose the extreme corruption, lies and underlying health hazards hidden by a powerful business based in greed and dishonesty.
60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) is the ideal reporter, operating under a strict code of ethics and doing anything to make certain his promise stays true in an otherwise flexible field. Can these two unlikely moral champions successfully take on the ugly world against them? Watch to find out! A well acted, frightening story of good versus evil that makes you question which side America is set up to foster.

Worth Watching
3.5 out of 5
Buy this Film: The Insider

Plot: 4
Imagery: 3
Originality: 3
Soundtrack:3 Buy the Soundtrack
Overall: 3.5

All About My Mother

This Spanish film by Pedro Almodovar is at once very strange and very ordinary. As typical with the popular director's (in the credits he is simply referred to as ALMODOVAR) works, All About My Mother is saturated with bright colors. It is something of a high production soap opera - full of obvious tragedy, melodrama, and thick emotions - but his subject matter, and treatment of it, is unusual. A Madrid mother returns to Barcelona after her eighteen-year-old son is killed and seeks out her old transvestite/prostitute friend, who leads her to a tainted nun with whom the mother shares a peculiar mutual friend. The characters are mostly unsubtle deviants: transvestites, transgenders, bisexuals, prostitutes, drug addicts, and surgical creations; but they are, for the most part, unabashed, if not proud, with regard to their societal status. The film contains continual references to the play A Streetcar Named Desire, and, not surprisingly, its outlandish characters all seem a little too theatrical. It is, in the end, a bizarre but sincere homage to motherhood and femininity.

WORTH WATCHING
3 out of 5
Download: All About My Mother

Plot: 3
Imagery: 3
Originality: 3
Soundtrack: 3
Overall: 3

Only Yesterday

This film comes from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation company responsible for such imaginative classics as Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso, two movies which Only Yesterday matches in animated design but does not even approach in plot or characters. Taeko, a twenty-seven year old office worker from Tokyo, chooses to spend her ten day vacation working with family friends in the countryside instead of traveling. While packing she slips into nostalgic memories of her ten-year-old self. She drifts in and out of this sentimentalism throughout the entire movie, mainly imposing on strangers, one of whom somehow falls in love with her. Only Yesterday is a long, tedious story that leaves you wondering- so what? Aside from the beautiful animations and a few moments of realistic ten year old reactions your time might better be spent reflecting on your own ten-year-old self - as long as you don't feel inclined to share.

Um?
2 out of 5
Buy this film: Omohide poro poro (Only Yesterday)

Plot: 1
Imagery: 4
Originality: 1
Soundtrack: 1
Overall: 2

True Lies

We caught this classic Schwarzenegger film on cable in a cheap Saigon hotel room. An explosion-packed, action-centered romantic comedy awesome-fest complete with chase scenes and tangos: a sure thing if you're looking for mindless entertainment. Schwarzenegger, a spy who has hidden his profession from his bored wife, Jamie Lee Curtis, must save both his dying marriage and his terrorist-plagued country. With an excess of quotable one-liners this film is bad enough to be good.

WORTH WATCHING
3 out of 5
Buy this film: True Lies

Plot: 4
Imagery: 2
Originality: 2
Soundtrack: 2 True Lies Soundtrack
Overall: 3