Quick Movie Reivews

A few quick reviews of films I've seen recently.

Disturbia - This is an updated retelling, not really a remake of my favorite film, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. At first I had no interest in seeing it but it got decent reviews when it came out. I caught it on cable. During the first two scenes I was making a list of all things that Hitchcock got right and this film got wrong, but after the set up it got better. The protagonists are now high school students so that changes things and they became mostly likable. It was better than I was expecting and it was perfectly fine to watch at home.

Elizabeth The Golden Age - I loved the first one and it was by the same team, but the reviews were not good. It got two oscar nominations (Costumes, and Cate Blanchett for Actress) so I saw it before the awards. It covers a really interesting time in British history and yet somehow manages to make it boring. Unlike the first film, this one seemed to dumb things down by short shifting the plot elements. At just under 2 hours, I might have liked it more if it was a half hour longer.

Crank - A dumb yet fun, mindless action flick staring Jason Statham. It's a cross between D.O.A. and Speed. A hitman is poisoned and to delay his death he has to keep his adrenaline level high. In order to find his killer, car chases (though malls a la The Blues Brothers), shootouts, hospital robberies and public sex ensue.

Sunshine - I had tickets to a free screening of this film but got there too late. I missed it in the theaters in spite of reviews that said it started off strong, 2001 strong, and changed to a different film in the last third. As for something trying to push the bounds of sci-fi I was really interested in seeing it. Turns out I wasn't interested in watching it. There are some interesting visual story telling aspects but I thought the plot was a bit weak. I didn't like the characters, as much of them as we get to know. The premise is a mission to the Sun to set off a huge nuclear bomb to reignite it. 8 astronauts on a long trip on an interesting ship. But we come in mid way and just before the mission takes an odd turn. The result is a story about the effects of long term space travel takes place over the course of just a few hours. Then there's the end where it turns into a monster movie; for a film that I think was trying to say something (2001 certainly was) I don't know what this is supposed to mean at all. The closest analogy I can think of is Altered States. I can respect an opinion that it was a good attempt, I just don't happen to agree.

Superbad - American Pie as a shaggy dog story. This follows 3 high school geeks who want to lose their virginity before college. They have realistic and hilarious conversations and end up in ridiculous situations. The movie works best when it follows them, it gets lost a little when it concentrates on two cops. Some really funny stuff.