Let’s see, what’s the nicest thing I can say about “World’s End”? Well, I didn’t dislike it as much as I thought as I was going to. The cumulative score on Rotten Tomatoes was pretty lousy and I got a second-hand warning that the film was just no good. Chalk it up to lowered expectations, but I had a better time than I expected. Does that mean the film is actually good? Oh lord, no. It’s a mess, actually. It’s about an hour too long, it features way too much standing around and talking, and it’s got way too many ideas. ‘Way too many ideas?’ you say. ‘Well, that’s kind of a good thing, isn’t it?’ No, no, it isn’t. The movie’s packed to the gills with concepts that simply don’t pay off. I give the writers credit for having active imaginations, but I would have much preferred to see fewer ideas nicely executed than the surfeit we have here. Let me give you an example: the character of Davy Jones (you remember: the squid-head-y guy) is fleshed-out here in a way that could have really packed an emotional wallop. But, thanks to some clumsy writing and directing, the whole thing just kind of lays there. And it’s not just that plot thread, it’s all of them fer crissakes. Again, how about a little economy? Pick two or three narrative throughlines, plot them well, and then get out of the way already. Following that course of action would have also allowed the filmmakers to do something else that was drastically needed here: i.e. an hour or so needed to be chopped out. Did you really need two hours and forty minutes for your wacky little pirate romp? C’mon.
Here’s another issue that some of you who saw the film may not have even realized was a problem: the scene after the credits should have been the actual end of the flick. That’s right, if you sat through the twenty minutes of end titles, you were rewarded with a scene which brought closure to one of the movie’s primary storylines. I would argue that that scene needed to come before the credits, but, hey, what the hell do I know?
Anyway, was there some fun to be had here? Sure, like I said, I didn’t dislike it as much as I thought I would. The movie looks great, Johnny Depp’s always fun to watch, and many of the action scenes were enjoyable (even if they were too long and drawn out). So, if you’re curious and you have nearly three hours to kill I’d say take in a matinee.
A coupla days ago I finished a terrific book: The Making of Star Wars. This is a brand new look at the production of the landmark film made up of interviews conducted from the early 70s through shortly after the movie’s release. The level of detail is impressive and many of the photos were new to me (which is amazing since I’ve been a fan since ‘77). One word of caution: I think this book, as a barrier to entry, requires a little knowledge of film production. Those who don’t have some grounding in movie-making may find the volume a little on the esoteric side.
Anyways, this was a nice way to celebrate Star Wars‘ 30th.
It’s been a while since I did a legitimate post so let me just hit the high points:
- A couple of weeks ago I was able to catch a day of the Film Noir Festival at L.A.’s historic Egyptian Theatre. On the bill that day were Alfred Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man and a lesser-known noir called Shockproof directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Cornel Wilde. “Wrong Man” (starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles) was not one of the Master’s better efforts. The procedural aspects were fairly by the numbers and Fonda was a little too restrained given the circumstances. By far the most interesting part of the picture was Vera Miles’ crack-up once she realizes everything’s gone horribly, horribly wrong. As I say, not one of Hitch’s best pictures, but I’ll still take many of his worst over some other folks’ best. Shockproof was a fun potboiler that ran out of steam in its third act and has an utterly preposterous ending. That being said, watching a film with dialogue like “I’m gonna knock Humpty Dumpty off of his wall, baby!” is time well-spent.
- I also caught Spider-man 3 on its opening day (through the good graces of my office who took us all out for a lunch-time showing). I’ve got to say that I was shockingly disappointed by this one. I’m not saying the other two are classic cinema exactly (they both have their flaws), but 3 is the one that most clearly goes off the rails. I’m willing to give Sam Raimi all kinds of slack (Evil Dead 2, represent), but this movie’s just sloppy. It’s too long, parts of it make no sense at all, and there are moments of painful awkwardness. I kid you not: the best part of the movie for me was Bruce Campbell’s cameo as a snooty French waiter (but then I’ve always got love for B.C.).
- Let’s see… what else? I finished The Children of Hurin a couple of days ago. “Hurin” is J.R.R. Tolkien’s first “new” novel in something like thirty years. I put new in quotes because this story has appeared– in shorter form– in at least two other places. Despite that, I enjoyed the book. Yes, there are logic problems and, yes, the language is a little antiquated (what were you expecting? it IS Tolkien we’re talking about here), but it’s a good adventure with a lot of tragedy (be warned: everything doesn’t turn out all happy and hobbit-y in this one– this one’s dark). Anyway, it was good to revisit Middle Earth for a time.
- And speaking of Middle Earth, I’ve been playing and enjoying The Lord of the Rings Online. Sure, it’s not as polished as World of Warcraft, but it’s got a lot going for it in spite of that. Chiefly, it’s leveraged the property really well — I really feel like I’m exploring Tolkien’s universe. In that same vein, the writing is actually quite good. There’s a good narrative flow and characters behave the way you think they should. Blizzard could learn a thing or two from how LOTRO delivers a much more meaningful experience. WoW has its strengths, but meaning is not one of them. Gathering animal parts and bringing them to nondescript people in cookie-cutter towns isn’t exactly what I’d call High Drama. Anyways, “Rings Online” is a step in the right direction toward better interactive story-telling (something I have a vested interest in at the moment).
My brother Ben has a band called Charlie Hustle and they just dropped a new song (in the form of a live video). I’m digging on the track and, if you’re a right-thinking American, you will too. (That’s the B-man on lead guitar.)
If you have any trouble opening it here, go straight to the source: http://www.reasonyrecords.com/brokenbutterfly.mov
Recent Comments