The story of Pocahontas just isn’t interesting. There’s nothing about this pseudo-historical tale about a young woman who became civilized that attracts it to me. With “The New World,” there’s no new angle presented to the audience, no new exploration of other characters, and the soapy drippy romance is still present and accounted for. “The New World” just didn’t live up to the hype that preceded it, and that’s because Malick anxiously looks for a new method of telling this yarn and pretty much never achieves his goals in that respect from the get go.
Tag Archives: N
Night Skies (2007)
“Night Skies” is almost ninety minutes long. It falls short of that number by six minutes. Forty-seven minutes is the time it takes for our mysterious aliens to finally drop down on our hapless travelers and launch their attack. That’s almost eighty percent of the film we’re told is a horror/sci-fi movie. Supposedly based on the accounts of the original victims of this alien abduction, apparently, the writers felt that since the accounts of the supposed remaining victim of these alien abductions were possibly vague and unusable, filling the film up with over an hour of soap opera melodrama would have made for more quality entertainment. Fact is, Knyrim sets forth many plot devices and potential story elements and never pays off for the audience.
The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)
It’s as if someone took a picture of my fantasies and plastered them on-screen. Bettie Page in the form of Gretchen Mol. It’s almost like a gift to me, and yes I’m vain enough to think this film is a gift to me. It features two of the most beautiful women who ever lived combined, along with one hell of a fantastic movie to boot. I was glad this wasn’t just a case of watching Mol as Page for ninety minutes. There’s a story, there’s great direction, and there’s actual commentary. “The Notorious Bettie Page” is yet another ninety minute bit of speculation on Ms. Page’s life, because it’s a known fact, no one is very sure of what really happened in her life from a child to her disappearance from society’s mainstream. But then again, Harron’s film is not an attempt to delve into the secrets and demons of Paige, too much. It’s instead a sweet, risqué, and entertaining celebration of the woman known as Bettie Page. Page, as you should know by now, is quite possibly one of the most revered pin-up models of all time.
Now You See Me, Now You Don't (Most látszom, most nem látszom) (2005)
Filmmaker Szász poses three riddles to the viewer in only thirty minutes including what’s wrong with this scene? And then there are three more posed to us, but three that will basically give away what this has to offer. Almost in the manner of Shyamalan, Szász starts the film on a soft note and then builds for a rather surprising albeit predictable climax that worked in the end, and that’s due to the rather excellent performances throughout the short film. Szász’s film is a solid utterly wrenching supernatural drama that tests not only the audience, but the perceptions of our views into grief, and isolation after grief.
Not Until You Dance (2005)
Being a best man is hard enough, but having to subdue to the duties required of you be they tedious or ridiculous is the part of the job that really makes it an unappealing aspect. Bored by his best friends wedding, a young dog is told he can’t leave the wedding until he can dance.
Nintendo: Oldschool Revolution (2006)
Sick of those films that have humongous battles, wars with mythological creatures, a leader of a mass army giving his legion of soldiers a large dramatic pep talk on the battlefield, fantasy stories about revenge, and wizards, all battling to fight an evil legion of soldiers whom want to take over the world? Well, stop. And watch at least one more. But this gigantic film’s hero is not a hobbit, or a knight of the round table, this hero is a–plumber. Seriously. Take your stigma for these films and put it on hold, and watch Larry Longstreth’s new hilarious short film that really puts a new meaning to the game wars.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
One of the first solo directing efforts for the master, Miyazaki, “Nausicaä” is a classic environmental monster fantasy epic concerning the usual Miyazaki themes. Of course the words “typical” and “Miyazaki” could never be used in the same sentence, and Nausicaä is a sheer precursor for future projects Miyazaki would embark upon. Your courageous martyr/heroine, the valiant humble hero, the mystifying figure, the wiser hero, and a government empire seeking to destroy the land. But it’s the way Miyazaki composes these arch-types that make his films worth watching without a doubt.