ashthomas//blog

ashthomas//blog

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Weekend of movies. Posts have been light on the ground since last week as I have been getting things ready for the class that I am teaching this semester, Modern France: Revolution to Resistance. Preparation for my first class, as well as trying to finish a chapter of my dissertation meant that I spent the weekend at home while my lovely wife hit the town with her friends. As I can't work in silence, I had a constant flow of films in the background and as diversions/sources of procrastination.

Finding Nemo A cute enough flick, excellent graphics, but the story didn't really grab me. Sure, I am probably twenty years older than its target audience, but I really don't think it is all that the media has made it out to be. The Lion King is still the best animated kids' film, in my opinion. The Australian accents, especially the dentist's, were caricatures, and I really hope that the rest of the world doesn't think we speak like the Crocodile Hunter.

The Pentagon Papers The story of Daniel Ellsburg, played by James Spader, and how he changed from RAND and Pentagon analyst to leaker of top-secret documents. It was interesting, but it would have been moreso if there were less of the hand wringing and more of the politics behind the war. The Vietnam War has produced many great war films, but I think that there is a fascinating political story to be told as well.

The Gathering Storm An HBO biopic of Winston Churchill in the thirties, when he was considered to be washed up and a minor embarrassment to the Conservative Party. Too short and too much of his private life, although Albert Finney is fantastic. The historical inaccuracies and the historical exclusions (how can a film about the lead-up to the Second World War and how Churchill was the only one warning of the dangers of Germany not include Chamberlain as a character or have any mention of Munich?!)

Gods and Generals I was expecting an exciting, emotional depiction of the ambiguities of the start of the American Civil War. What I got was a slow, laboured movie that had Stonewall Jackson praying every 8 minutes. I turned it off after 45 minutes and watched the documentaries instead.

American Pie 3: The Wedding More than the last two, this was a series of sketches hung loosely on the plot line of preparations for Jim's wedding. Hit and miss. Stifler is again the standout -- somebody give this guy his own show, he is hilarious.

Buffalo Soldiers A depiction of the amoral world of a peacetime army base in Germany - boredom, drugs and corruption. Joaquim Phoenix and Scott Glenn are the whole show. Phoenix is turning out to be a very talented actor (his performance in The Yards is his best) and I have liked Glenn since his role as the drug dealer in Training Day.

High Fidelity One of the best rom-com movies of the nineties. Cusack is amazing, but the standout is the star-making performance from Jack Black.

State of Play (part one) A BBC mini-series that is going to have us glued to the ABC every Sunday night for the next six weeks. After the first episode of this ten-hour series, I am already hooked. A gripping story of politics, journalism and crime. Not a superfluous minute in it. Fantastic.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home