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Reviews
for the Week of 11/9:
Sorry for the lack of reviews this week and their delay. I will catch up
soon.
This movie makes me want
to slap myself so hard that I’ll forget about it. The Matrix
Revolutions destroys everything that the first two films in the
franchise stood for. The 1999 original and this year’s Reloaded
were unique; while they thought that they were smarter than they really
were, they were also fun, intriguing, and entertaining. After seeing
this third installment in the Matrix series, I would like to take
back everything bad that I said about its predecessors. I may have not
liked the first movie much, originally, but Revolutions proves
that you can do a whole lot worse.
During Revolutions,
characters discuss the balancing of life. Even though the Wachowski’s
successfully wrote about this in their screenplay, their work itself
isn’t balanced in the least bit. The first hour of this movie contains
only pointless scenes, full of unintelligent dialogue, and the final
seventy-nine minutes consist strictly of mind-numbing action. With no
sense of pacing, we easily drift into the realm of boredom, when
watching Revolutions. This, alone, makes it unworthy of
audiences’ money.
The special effects are
astounding, but they serve no purpose, whatsoever. While the action
scenes are superbly done, the reason for their existence is far too
obvious and dull. In the first two films, there was something being
achieved or resolved by each fight-sequence. In this final chapter, the
plot is simple: good vs. evil vs. machines. Add in some gunshots and big
explosions and you’ve got yourself a movie. Is this enjoyable? Not
really, even if it may be admirable. For nearly twenty minutes,
Revolutions is just like an animated movie, completely done on
computers. Our hero, Neo, isn’t even usually present; he’s only onscreen
for only about a fourth of time.
It would be worthless
for me to try to stray people away from this one, for they’ve already
been sucked into the franchise. I’d recommend catching Revolutions
on cable TV, simply to witness the end of the series. It certainly isn’t
worth the price of a ticket, though. This fact, alone, is so depressing
that it makes me want to guzzle down an entire bottle of Prozac.
Love Actually
represents why we go to the movies. It’s a joyous ride, chocked full of
great dialogue and heartwarming stories, a perfectly enjoyable piece of
fluff. Only adjectives can describe the pleasure I experienced when
watching it, for I have no clue why I did. I hate romantic comedies. I
hate Holiday-themed movies. I hate Hugh Grant. And I hate Hollywood
romaces. Love Actually is so damn good, though—it’s hard to resist,
no matter what your bias is. This is the kind of flick that gets better
every time you think about it, the disposable entertainment that you
cannot forget. What could be better?
There may be too many
things going on in Love Actually, but it has an incredible sense of
balance. Each story and each character is focused on just enough, and the
running length is adequate. While screenwriter-turned-director Richard
Curtis has a noticeably tough time behind the camera, his work is very
tolerable. Since the quality of filmmaking of Love Actually is the
least of the audience’s worries, it doesn’t affect the impression that it
makes on us.
I wouldn’t fret to call
this film a “chick flick,” but males and females will find it equally
enjoyable. There are many cheesy love stories here indeed, and they’ll
surely please female audiences. But the comedy, which is thankfully not
too sappy, has a great amount of cleverness, which makes this flick all
the more enjoyable for everyone. The delivery is flawless, too. Even
though it’s imperfect, I couldn’t ask anything more of Love Actually.
Economically, the making
of this movie was been brilliant. All of the members of the cast have
about ten minutes of screen-time each. They clearly didn’t have to spend
much time acting in it, but the studio can truthfully bill all of them, as
if they were leading roles. The big names, themselves, will draw in
crowds. Half of the ticket buyers will be seeing Love Actually for
its ensemble. However, whatever the reason may be, everyone who sees it
will not be disappointed. When it was all over, the old granny sitting
behind me raved that it was “a delicious movie.” I couldn’t agree more.
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