Category: Movie reviews

Movie review: Good Hair, Central Station

These two movies have nothing in common, except for having seen both recently…

*** Good Hair (October 2009) – Rental
Documentary. Inspired by his daughters, Chris Rock explores the world of black women’s hair.

She says: As a white girl, I had no idea what black women went through to achieve the look of shiny, full, straight(ish) hair. The expense! The time! The pain! It was really interesting. (Though if expecting big laughs because it’s Chris Rock, you’ll probably be disappointed.).
He says: They spend how much on hair weaves? That’s ridiculous. I’m going to bed.

*** Central Station (November 1998) – Rental
Fernanda Montenegro, Vinicius de Oliveira. A middle-age woman who writes (but doesn’t necessarily mail) letters for the illiterate becomes the reluctant custodian of young boy after his mother dies. Subtitled.

She says: It’s a moving story of how this fairly unpleasant older woman is transformed by her relationship with the boy who is left with no one after his mother dies. Great acting, nice cinematography, and enough twists of fortune to keep your attention. (And not really a depressing movie, though you might expect that.)
He says: I was able to get through it, but it was bit too slow and character-driven for me.

Movie review: Polytechnique

*** Polytechnique (February 2009) – Rental
Karine Vanasse, Sébastien Huberdeau. Looks at the Montreal Massacre through the eyes of two survivors, a man sent from the room, and a woman who had to stay inside. French with subtitles.

She says: I don’t know the best way of tackling this subject matter. This movie was very arty—black and white, moments of banal quiet suddenly interrupted by moments of terror. The killer is never named, not glorified. The focus is on the victims—that day, and some months afterward—and they get all your sympathy. At a taut 70 minutes, the movie certainly keeps your attention.
He says: Can I sit here and watch this with you? [A little later] Oh God, I don’t want to see this. I’m going on the computer. [A little later, having returned] Are you expecting to sleep well after this? [After it was done] Well, that was depressing.

Movie review: Greatest Movie Ever Sold

**½ POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (April 2011) – Theatre
Morgan Spurlock documentary looking at product placement in movies, by trying to finance this movie through product placement.

She says: The meta-nature of this documentary was interesting, but it seemed as though it should have gone further. The movie just seemed to end, without really addressing the questions it was raising.
He says: I think his sponsors got in the way of his message.

Movie review – Capitalism: A Love Story

Catching up here, since we watched this weeks ago…

*** Capitalism, a Love Story (March 2010) – Rental
Michael Moore documentary looks at the recent financial collapse and questions the economic system that made it possible.

She says: This is Moore’s most radical film to date. Where previous had fairly uncontroversial (to Canadians) arguments that guns are bad, George Bush wasn’t a great President, and America’s health system needs fixing, this one questions the capitalist economic system itself. I couldn’t as easily get on board. And yet, I couldn’t poke that many holes into his arguments, either. Why couldn’t more companies be run as cooperatives? Why do we allow such enormous wage disparities between executives and workers? It definitely made me think, and that’s a good thing.
He says: So he’s like Fox News, at the other end of spectrum.

Movie reviews: Redefining the chick flick

Though not at all intentional, I’m realizing that the last three movies we watched on DVD all feature strong women characters. Two were even directed by women. Only one qualifies as a “traditional” chick flick. (Also realizing… I’d rather write about this than the election.)

**½ Bright Star (May 2009) – Rental
Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw. Story of the unlikely romance between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne.

She says: Surprisingly engrossing for a slow-paced movie in which comparatively little actually happens.
He says: Yeah, that was slow paced. Like, glacial.

***½ Catfish (September 2010) – Rental
Documentary. Nev Shulman’s roommates decide to do a documentary about his long-distance friendship with an eight-year-old artist and her family, which develops in a way none of them expect.

She says: I got very caught up in the twists and turns of this real-life story. The additional interview on the DVD is also well worth watching for those lingering questions.
He says: I was surprised how interesting I found that. I was expecting something different, maybe more terrible, but it was still really fascinating.

*** The Runaways (April 2010) – Rental
Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart. A look back at the story of The Runaways, the first all-girl rock band.

She says: It focuses mostly on Cherie Currie, whose biography this is based on, and secondarily on Joan Jett, the movie’s producer, with the remaining Runaways mostly treated as background players. Though at times you feel an urge to run in and protect these very young women from some of these experiences, overall it was kind of inspiring. Nice music sequences. And a great reminder of how awesome Joan Jett is.
He says: Is it over? I think I fell asleep. I guess I was really tired from the canoeing. How did it end?
She says: Joan Jett became a big star.

 

 

Movie review: Canadian film fest

In the wake of the Genies, we saw the two main contenders on the weekend.

*** Barney’s Version (January 2011) – Theatre
Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike. A movie built around Barney Panofsky’s relationships—with his father, his friends (especially Boogie), and the three Mrs. Panofsky’s.

She says: Very well-acted, engaging, funny in parts, but a lot of tragedy as well. A realistic love story at its heart. Just barely passes the Bechdel Test, though.
He says: I enjoyed it. Paul Giamatti is a really good actor.

? Incendies (April 2011) – Theatre
Lubna Azabal, Rémy Girard. After their mother’s death, her children (twins) are told to locate the father and the brother they knew nothing about. It leads to a tragic voyage of discovery about their mother’s past.

She says: Very well-crafted, completely compelling, but a dark story with a really disturbing twist.
He says: God, that was so depressing. I’m really disturbed now. Why would anyone want to see that?
She says: I think the fact that it’s affecting you so much shows that it’s a good movie.
He says: No. It was terrible.
She says: The story is terrible. (And I’m grateful that the worst of it wasn’t actually shown.) But I still think the movie was good. It was haunting.

Movie review: When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

*** When the Levees Broke (August 2006) – Rental
Spike Lee documentary looking back at Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

She says: This four-part documentary uses copious interviews, mostly with those involved, to tell the story of Hurricane Katrina. You revisit parts you heard about at the time, and learn a great deal that you probably did not. I remain stunned at just how badly the US government treated its own people, at the time, and afterward.
He says: This is a bit of downer.

Movie review: Made in Dagenham

A bit behind, as we saw this a while ago…

**½ Made in Dagenham (November 2010) – Theatre
Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins. Set in Britain in 1968, shows how women workers at a Ford plant achieved pay equity with men though labour action.

She says: Really positive view of history that you realize must have been streamlined somewhat for dramatic purposes, but still makes for a pretty engaging movie.
He says: It was mostly good, but it was slow in parts.

The movie ends with the point that having achieved this milestone, the concept of “equal pay for equal work” for women spread throughout Britain, then through other industrialized countries. Of course, that’s for unionized jobs with clear pay scales. The picture is a bit more murky in other cases, as per this recent chart comparing men’s and women’s wages in US.

Gender gap in wages (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Movie review: Whip It

**½ Whip It (October 2009) – Rental
Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore. Young girl finds the thrill of roller derby much more to her taste than her mother’s pageant aspirations.

She says: It’s certainly likable and moves along, but the story really follows a predictable pattern, and the roller derby sequences just don’t come across as well as they might.
He says: Way less sexist than I was expecting a “movie about roller derby girls” to be.

Movie review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)

*** Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, (November 2010) – Theatre
Daniel Radcliffe, Ruper Grint, Emma Watson. Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off on a quest for the all the Horcruxes that Voldemort has hidden in a bid for immortality.

She says: Better than I expected it to be, given that it’s mostly about setting up the next movie, and has a plot that is basically summarized as “Harry, Ron, and Hermione wander around looking for stuff”. Fortunately, their wandering is broken up with some interesting battles and arguments and clues, many of which came as a surprise to me, even though I have read the book. (I have a wonderful ability to forget plot details.) Not a good movie to jump in on, but if you’ve been following the series along all this while, no point in stopping here.
He says: Well, that wasn’t too bad at all.