The Silver Screen: March 2004

The Silver Screen

Covering the past, present, and future of motion pictures, this blog is a record of one film-buff's viewing experiences, opinions, and recommendations...

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

In films past, we have heard that Jim Carrey is really a good actor and not just the goofball from Ace Ventura or The Mask... Yet when push came to shove, his performances in films such as The Truman Show were, in reality, nothing special. Well... Jim Carrey's time has finally come. His melancholy and repressed performance is nothing short of amazing...

The rest of the cast is superb as well, including great character performances by current "IT" actors Elijha Wood and Kirsten Dunst.

Director Michel Gondry creates of the best depictions of the surrealism of dreams that I have ever seen. Little surprise that the film was also penned by Charlie Kaufman (author of screen gems Adaptation and Being John Malkovich).

We should be hearing about this film again come Oscar season.

RATING: HR

- posted by Stephen @ 7:30 PM

Sunday, March 07, 2004

The Passion of the Christ

Mel Gibson's Passion has sparked controversy in so many ways...

Some say the film is anti-Semetic. If this is true, then you have to say the Gospels are anti-Semetic as well, since Gibson's story of Jesus follows them very close.

Some say the film is overly violent. Being raised Catholic; this complaint makes little sense to me. Catholics have always meditated on how Jesus suffered, so Gibson's portrayal was about as horrific as I have always imagined the crucifixion to be.

((~~ An interesting side note that you Catholics out there might have picked up on... Did it seem to you like the film paused at points mirroring the Stations of the Cross? It did to me...))

Some say that it is flawed for focusing only on Jesus death. Hello??? It is called "The *PASSION* of the Christ." Focusing on the passion alone is the singular point of the film.

Some say that it is a bad film in general. I disagree. I feel that Mel Gibson has created a brilliant and moving piece that easily ranks as one of the greatest religious films of all time.

RATING: R (see the film for yourself and form your own opinion)

- posted by Stephen @ 4:30 PM

Starsky and Hutch

When you put Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Snoop Dogg in a film about 70's cops, you would think that you could have a pretty funny movie. Add in psuedo-lesbianism from Amy Smart and Carmen Electra and you might hope to have a damn fine movie... Well... You hopes would be largely wasted on this film. It's too bad really. Don't get me wrong... The film has its funny moments... and is by no means a total pile of crap... but by and large, you can sum up the film in a word: disappointing.

RATING: OK

- posted by Stephen @ 2:00 PM