I Heart Huckabees, Motorcycle Diaries, and She Hate Me
I have three movies to review because Netflix keeps sending them faster than I can write about them. I Heart Huckabees, Motorcycle Diaries,and She Hate Me.
First, I Heart Huckabees came in the mail the other day. I saw it months ago in the theatre because I see anything with Lily Tomlin in it. That's jut a given. We ordered it, though, because it was good and R hadn't seen it yet. I liked it the second time round twice as much. Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman play two existential detectives hired independently by Mark Wahlberg, Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), Jude Law, and Naomi Watts. It's quirky, but not just quirky for quirky's sakes, like Charlie Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation, and Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It's smart, it's funny, and hey - it's got Lily Tomlin.
Secondly, Motorcycle Diaries, the new Walter Salles film, divided us a little bit, but since I'm doing th posting, I'm assigning the stars. I will say that R's big complaint with this film is in the title. "It's false advertising," she claims, and rightly so, for Che Guevara and friend Albert only make the first portion of their continent-long trip on the 1939 Norton motorcycle before it breaks down. Their travels after that are on foot, in cattle trucks, on boats, floats, rafts, and finally an airplane. That aside, I found the movie to be an interesting history into what made Ernesto Guevara "Che." While the movie could have gone into more depth concerning the formation of his ideology, the long, wordless shots showing trucks full of day laborers going to the mines or the Peruvian leper colonies show anyone that all is not right in the world. There are many blanks the movie does not fill-in concerning the makings of Che Guevara, but the movie doesn't really attempt to do that anyway; it more or less shows one pivotal experience in one of the more important folk heroes of our times.
Lastly, She Hate Me. When I watch a Spike Lee movie, I am aware that this is a filmmaker who has things to say. He's angry. He's pissed off at the world. He's a hopeful soul. And he's going to show us why. In this movie, he covers much ground: African-American male stereotypes, Enron and the corporate culture, same-sex parenting ( a how-to course, of sorts), and the fate of the Whistleblower from Watergate through today. The movie is powerful in that it accurately dishes up a plate of 2004 and shoves it down the viewer's throat. If you're into that sort of thing, which we most definitely are, you might want to check this one out.
First, I Heart Huckabees came in the mail the other day. I saw it months ago in the theatre because I see anything with Lily Tomlin in it. That's jut a given. We ordered it, though, because it was good and R hadn't seen it yet. I liked it the second time round twice as much. Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman play two existential detectives hired independently by Mark Wahlberg, Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), Jude Law, and Naomi Watts. It's quirky, but not just quirky for quirky's sakes, like Charlie Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation, and Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It's smart, it's funny, and hey - it's got Lily Tomlin.
Secondly, Motorcycle Diaries, the new Walter Salles film, divided us a little bit, but since I'm doing th posting, I'm assigning the stars. I will say that R's big complaint with this film is in the title. "It's false advertising," she claims, and rightly so, for Che Guevara and friend Albert only make the first portion of their continent-long trip on the 1939 Norton motorcycle before it breaks down. Their travels after that are on foot, in cattle trucks, on boats, floats, rafts, and finally an airplane. That aside, I found the movie to be an interesting history into what made Ernesto Guevara "Che." While the movie could have gone into more depth concerning the formation of his ideology, the long, wordless shots showing trucks full of day laborers going to the mines or the Peruvian leper colonies show anyone that all is not right in the world. There are many blanks the movie does not fill-in concerning the makings of Che Guevara, but the movie doesn't really attempt to do that anyway; it more or less shows one pivotal experience in one of the more important folk heroes of our times.
Lastly, She Hate Me. When I watch a Spike Lee movie, I am aware that this is a filmmaker who has things to say. He's angry. He's pissed off at the world. He's a hopeful soul. And he's going to show us why. In this movie, he covers much ground: African-American male stereotypes, Enron and the corporate culture, same-sex parenting ( a how-to course, of sorts), and the fate of the Whistleblower from Watergate through today. The movie is powerful in that it accurately dishes up a plate of 2004 and shoves it down the viewer's throat. If you're into that sort of thing, which we most definitely are, you might want to check this one out.
posted by Maureen at 9:39 AM
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