Shoot 'em up - (D) It's like the execrable 'Crank', in that the story is just a pretext for all the shooting and mayhem. What makes it less wretched is the charisma of the three leads, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Bellucci. However, since director/writer guy whatsisname decided to make the story as over-the-top as the action, the two elements are fighting against one another. As a result, the story doesn't engage the viewer, and the action, presumably why one goes to see movies like this, doesn't stimulate the viewer in even the most primal way.
3:10 to Yuma - (B) Solid remake of an old 50's western. The only trouble is that leads Russell Crowe and Christian Bale don't seem to be too engaged in their respective roles. For instance, here's Russell Crowe's character: "Ho hum, I'm the leader of a band of criminals who rob and pillage indiscriminately. There's no reason for me to hang out with these guys, since my skills are so ahead of theirs, their only practical use for me is cannon-fodder. If I don't come to respect Christian Bale's struggling farmer, there's really no point for me to be in this movie." And Christian Bale: "Yawn. I'm a struggling farmer who's volunteered to escort Crowe to a train station to take him to jail because I need the money. Also, I would like to earn the respect of my son, who seems to be idolizing Crowe." If they aren't involved, why should we be?
West Side Story - (C) Pauline Kael said it best: It's a musical for people who don't like musicals. The dancing is energetic, the sets are beautifully done, the songs are catchy, (And clever! Stephen Sondheim must've studied under the Dick DeBartolo school of songwriting.) So why does the movie leave me underwhelmed? Well, musicals are at their best when they're in the moment, that is, when everyone's singing and dancing about. So the best ones tend to have rather shallow themes. (Boy meets/loses/regains girl...) West Side Story's problem is when it tries to shoehorn social commentary into the Romeo and Juliet story. You're made to feel that you're paying for all the energetic singing and dancing with a bitter shot of righteous finger-wagging.
Much better is Singin' in the Rain (A) Damned enjoyable. It succeeds where West Side Story fails, merely by aiming a hell of a lot lower in the story department. It's an inside joke to the movie industries' transition from silent film to 'talkies'. It's slight, ephemeral, and a lot of fun.
War -(D-) When you put Jet Li in a movie with Jason Statham, you kinda expect a pretty banal story that's an excuse to give us tightly choreographed fight sequences. In fact, that's why we watch these type of movies- see 'Shoot 'em up', above. What I didn't expect was to see a fifth-rate Michael Mann style cop drama where Jet Li's talents (and Statham's) aren't put to any use whatsoever. Hokey and forgettable. (And does Devon Aoki have a terminal disease or something? Is her acting career a present from the 'Make A Wish' foundation? Feh.)
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