Reviews
Hellboy (2004)
Funny, entertain and that's it
There is always a problem when I try to talk about this film, and that is the fact that I haven't read any of the Hellboy comic books so I don't know the changes made in adaptation or the real dimension of the characters that this movie surely didn't get in just one film.
Anyway, this movie was funny, entertain and that's it, the previous movie that I saw in my country was I Robot, and that one really sucks, so I think that helped giving me some disposition and the mood to watch Hellboy and actually enjoy it. In comparison Hellboy at least get some jokes right which poor Will Smith didn't.
I think Guillermo del Toro was pretty low in budget because the monsters were always the same, no more money for that modeling and computer animation, so it was require that the storyline get stuck in a constant repetition of a fight scene with the same Hellboy and the same resurrected fella in different locations.
The characters were enjoyable, I think Ron Perlman is a wasted actor that actually has made something with The city of Lost Children and Cronos, the last one with Guillermo. Selma Blair and everyone else was plain good.
All the problems in this movie really reside in the plot holes, especially near the end, Hellboy thriumps in a way too absurd and too easy for us to care and applaud him, despite that I think anyone has a standart possibility to be entertain and not end angry and mislead like I felt with that I Robot turkey.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
I really like the way this mind thinks!
Michel Gondry is incredible with images, with special effects that look unreal but yet outstandingly well-fusion with the look of the film, this incredible journey through the mind of Joel Barish is really worth the price and the time spend.
As it always, just when you think there is no new light in the horizon of movie storytelling here comes a new script by Charlie Kaufman, smart, inventive and completely crazy!
There is so much to enjoy of this film, starting with the incredible idea of someone who is willing to erase some of his memories in a company call Lacuna Inc., then there is the love story (so new and fresh like no other since Punch Drunk Love)and finally the visual contest between the mind of Joel and the company guys that are trying to erase all his memories of Clementine.
So sad and yet so lovable, this story has many awesome dialogue lines that theorize about the live in couple, the inner problems of individualism, the ethics of the man manipulating the nature and the minds in order to make it profitable and others that I can recall right now.
I was so happy to go see this movie with all the hopes to be intelectually challenge and just get what I wanted, this is a work done by people with the creativity and the will to do some meaning, a product that gives a good earned credit to its audience from the begining, if you haven´t see it WHAT ARE YOU WAITING? I personally can´t wait for another great work of Mr. Kaufman and any of his parterns in evil: Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze.
I, Robot (2004)
three laws of boredom
This summer movie is a mess, I have read Asimov's story, I think the concept of the three laws is brilliant, and with that in mind I remember a lovable character named Dr. Susan Calvin, interested in the "mind" of robots, she was better than any Sherlock unsolving the mystery of the homicide robot, a total brainiac master who would at been my first choice for the leading character in this movie, not some unfunny techno-phobic cop with an electric spoon as an arm and the ability to emulate Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible with the glasses, the bike and the nerves.
Dr. Susan Calvin in this movie is nothing more than the "hot" chick with some intellectual unknown stuff (only suggested) in her head and that's it, so as you will assume, the plot goes with no good direction, with the very well known hurry of a Blockbuster film to get us to a fight scene, then to a car chase, then to the climatic pandemonium with wires and circuits and finito, the movie it's over.
There is no juice in the story, nor very much to debate about robotics and their futuristic role in human society, Asimov's work and ideas only vanish in this science fiction picture who runs to deep into oblivion, sorry, those not compute, mal function, Hal9000, where are you? why really miss you.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
the best summer 2004 experience
Everyone has already said something about this movie, it is a complete hit in my country, I am a true fan of comic books but, despite the fact that my true greatest hero is Batman, Spiderman 2 achieved too many goals, great actors, great adaptation of the feel and breath of the comic books, great development of the story line and a very smart use of publicity and commercial influence.
There are only 2 aspects of the movie that didn't work for me, hey, you gotta be honest at least with yourself, so I don't like that clock tower action sequence in the moment where a CGI aunt May got so lucky to grab the wall with her umbrella, there could have been a best way to resolve that situation.
And number 2 that moment when Spidey saves the day and the people from that train railroad helps him, well, that kind of union, everyone knows his identity and anyone turn out evil and do something nasty like going with Jameson and reveal it to the world or at least take a shot with his or her camera, I mean, someone gotta has a camera in Manhattan this days, a tourist for example. I don't know, I realize that the message it's a good one, especially for the American people, but I think is too corny for my taste, anyway, it's my opinion and all this didn't do enough to stop for make me laugh, smile and bring an abanic of great emotions while I watch one of the greatest comic book based movie ever made (there is still that great place for another more dark film in my hearth, of course, Batman)
Matando Cabos (2004)
inventive? not even near!
Matando Cabos is a complete tribute to Pulp Fiction and some other American movies, that if it wasn't for the language (spanish) and the little parody of El Santo (which is one of the few highlights of this movie)I wouldn't know that this is a Mexican film. Those dialogues extracted literally from Taxi Driver in one scene? a shame. This movie is done by some fancy kids with the intention to glorify the Tarantino style and a type of American cinema that doesn't need more cheers than the one that has already been giving in the USA, but if you are already out of ideas and you wanted to do a Tarantino dirty stylish Mexican film at least you should have written those typical adapted Reservoir Dogs dialogues strong and smart enough to keep out that boring "we already seen that and better" feeling.
Why all this new self-made Mexican film-makers can't come with original ideas or at least with a homemade tribute? The movie felt like a sequel of Nicotina (a Mexican copycat of Snatch and Smocking Barrels), it makes me feel like there is no Indio Fernandez, no Almada Brothers, no Pedro Armendariz's father! to honor so we have to honor foreign concepts. All right, there is some good earn funny moments, very chilango moments too, in the movie but where is no substance there is nothing good enough to make our film industry a worthy one, let's not say a good representation of the Mexican way of life with all those cartonish characters like the ones in Matando Cabos.
Dot the I (2003)
I don´t really see what´s so great about it
I saw Dot the I yesterday and I really can´t see what´s got into the sundance film festival for supporting these weird piece of film, I don´t know if I am being too much demanding but all that hard work on the script in order to try and surprise me with those twists was too much.
(Spoiler) The acting is limited, Gael Garcia feels wrong with that UK accent and that goes too to the female part and just when I was giving his crown to that english young actor, he becomes into the madman cliche of the movie and ruined it. (end of spoiler)
The efforts on direction, which are good, well, that style of combining the footage in film and the one extracted from a camcorder, wasn´t really good, you will learn near the end of the film that is justified but again, didn´t feel neat when you see it.
The budget for this film is low, you can easily guess that, especially in that Indie Film Festival scene when you realize that you are seeing another indie movie that couldn´t make thinks work with its own money, because seriously, that festival looked fake.
All right, I am having a hard time with this film, the effort, none the less, is good. I even wish if that kind of young "impetu" exist in my own country, where, with a few exceptions like Amores perros and La ley de Herodes, we are having a really bad time with esporadic and ridiculous films.
At the end you will see this script is no good, the twists are not too well execute, some are even laughable, the acting is plain right, if you can see these movies with an incredible good eyes you will see some glints of artistry but if you are a hard ass cinema lover like me avoid it at all cost.
Ladies' Night (2003)
Mexican attempt to do pop culture films for mayor audiences is a flop
It scares me the idea of how can I start to talk about this film, from the moment it started I was sure that someone gave a 35 mm camera to a 6 year old kid and he just started to shot with the ability of an orphan to show love and tender, so many of the shots were out of focus!
The attempt to present the characters in a sort of Amelie way is in technique and narrative style, a SHAME. Those poor actors, especially those wanna be actresses that lead these film, are in their worst day for style and histrionic abilities, they just talked those dialogs as if they were not bad at all with the confidence of a blind woman when she tries to cross a highway by herself.
The script has only one merit that only mexican people will probably (with enough pity) appreciate, and it is that the story can give you a bite of the social complexity that mexican women live and the boundaries that needs to be brake in our society, but just telling it gives to this film too much credit, that actually was only my own achievemnt on reflection, this movie sucks! and especially because the script, which it feels as the work of a kinder garden student with too much hormones, thinking in strippers and dirty language, there is not even a good connection between one scene and another and there is NO moment when you can feel that you are been guide by competent people.
I feel shame for the people who see this film, and even more for those who spend their money on the way for neural destruction and actually aprecciate. If the people that produce it has the nerve to send it to another countries I will down my head in shame and pray (for the first time in my life) that foreign people won´t see it, AVOID IT AT ALL COST!
Matchstick Men (2003)
not so original but a great execution!
After all we saw from Hollywood in summer I think this movie comes as a fresh air for all those who goes to the cinema for more than explosive bucaneers, clumsy terminators and desperate really, really "bad" boys. With the end of the summer Matchstick men was my kind of movie that came with a great execution of technique and a good academic script with good twists, is true that it could be predictable for many, but I enjoyed this movie just too much and just because it give a chance to clear my mind with the real depth movies that will come with the Oscar competition, and the usual end of year season. Have great cinema days!