Tag Archives: Romance

American Splendor (2003)

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“American Splendor” is the biographical film of cult underground critically acclaimed writer Harvey Pekar, a man whose become synonymous with underground comics. What “American Splendor” does is rare, rather than adhering the normal formulas of the biopic with dramatic tones, the obligatory villains and hardships, it’s approached rather with a realistic combination of comedy, drama, animation, and documentary style with interviews along with Pekar’s usual loving sense of self-loathing. “American Splendor” is a film rich with human overtones, and human characters that aren’t appealing to the eye, but are completely realistic.

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Sylvia (2003)

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35341_ajWhile Paltrow does manage to give an inspired performance that shows effort, the problem with “Sylvia” is it romanticizes someone who was obviously stricken with a horrible mental disability. As always, poets and singers who manage to commit suicide are portrayed as people who have done something elegant, a deed such as suicide is portrayed here with such a fantastic and dreamy nature and never does it focus on the sheer extreme results such as misery. This manages to romanticize suicide and takes a woman who had obviously a mental illness and makes her seem as if suicide was a grand gesture to end her misery when in fact it was just sad.

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Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2003)

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enlFK5cThis is Tarantino’s fourth film after a self imposed hiatus in filmmaking. Originally set to be one whole film, the studios made him split his long story into two films, possibly for franchising opportunities, but who knows? I watched “Kill Bill” with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a child looking onto his first action film, and Tarantino’s first attempt at the action genre, and I was stunned. The “Kill Bill” franchise has become a hit, commercially, critically, and with Tarantino’s fiercely devoted fan base, who have stuck by the prolific director. Tarantino manages to set yet another precedent with “Kill Bill” which is simply a brilliant movie. I admit, I’m not a fan of Tarantino’s, he makes brilliant work and “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” are excellent, but I wouldn’t call myself a fan. “Kill Bill Vol. 1” has me re-considering my thoughts, though.

This is the same old revenge flick we’ve seen in every Japanese martial arts film, and western, and Tarantino knows that, and that’s his mission, to make a film of his very own, his very own revenge flick paying tribute to his favorite films, his very own film that resembles a Japanese exploitation saga right down to the theme music, which is beautiful from funkadelic soul, to Japanese pop, to the theme song of “The Green Hornet” that really had me high. This movie is not only a thrill to watch but is also a good game you can play called “spot the reference”. There are dozens of movie references here, and hell, it could make a good drinking game. For every movie reference you spot you take a shot.

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In America (2003)

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inamerica“In America” has a quality that isn’t seen in movies these days. It’s sappy but in the other hand it’s very genuine to the point where sappy is most welcome, it has a distinctly large knack for being so utterly convincing in its charm, grace and celebration of life. Surely that is what I’d best sum it up as: a celebration of life, and food for the soul and the heart. This is a film a family should watch together as we watch another family cope with what they have and with the cards they’ve been dealt in life. “In America” is the tale of the American dream that no one can grasp showing that the American dream is only that: a dream, a concept, something to reach for, and “In America” tells us that the American dream is something that’s in the eyes of the beholder. In this semi-modern tale, we meet an Irish family who trek to New York under the guise that they’re on vacation when really they’re there to live there.

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Shaun of the Dead (2004)

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If you were to ask me right now which I prefer, British comedy or American comedy, I’d reply without a moment’s hesitation: British comedy. Uh-oh someone’s being unpatriotic! Think about it: they gave us “Monty Python”, “The Office”, “Coupling”, and inspiration for “All in the Family” and “Three’s Company” (and so much more), I love all British comedy because it’s just so utterly brilliant. Regardless, the British have comedy down to a tee, down to an art and theirs is subtle, so sharp and so unbelievably funny and sometimes weird, case in point: Shaun of the Dead. It’s quite obvious when watching this film that creators Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are not only pop culture buffs, but also horror buffs as they pay homage to the great George Romero with every aspect of a good zombie film, and yes there’s walking zombies, no runners here.

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Duplex (2003)

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gal-zoom-7-jpgI don’t mind dark comedies, I’ve seen a lot of them, some of them have been really good (Serial Mom, War of the Roses), and then there are the dark comedies that just shouldn’t be made (Death to Smoochy). “Duplex” is another one of them. With a plot right off of a sitcom, and with a script written with such a mean spirit and sense of disgust, we meet young couple Alex Rose (Ben Stiller) and Nancy Kendricks (Drew Barrymore). The two up and comers are nitpicking looking for a house. After a really cheesy set-up from director Danny Devito, the two finally stumble upon a really old but beautiful house which they discover has two floors and the second floor is being lived in by a little old woman Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel) who is a seemingly sweet lady but cannot be kicked out because she’s on rent control.

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Monster (2003)

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Monster“Monster” is the biographical film and story of Aileen Wuornos, deemed the first female serial killer of Florida murdering five men from 1989 to 1990 who picked her up while she was a prostitute, attempting to get money without sex. Traumatized after being brutally attacked and raped, she no longer wanted to continue having sex for money and began killing the men who picked her up to support her lesbian girlfriend Selby. “Monster” is more of a tragedy than an actual biographical picture starring Charlize Theron who is basically stunning here transforming into the infamous serial killer who was executed on 2002. Theron is the most convincing actress to play Aileen Wuornos ever and really dives into the role of Wuornos. Here we witness not the birth of a monster, but the evolution of a monster, a woman who was always an outcast, always disliked, always abused, and always brought down, so inevitably she’s transformed into a ruthless killer.

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