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Match Point (2005)

woody, how could i doubt you??

[9/10 · 14 June 2006]

like your favorite ex-boyfriend, you never truly get a good woody allen film off of your mind. however, in the first half hour of "matchpoint," i had to keep reminding myself i was watching a woody film - having been so disappointed in the recent past. instead of the obvious, allen utilizes the benign British sublime to his altman-ish advantage, where you're not sure what's going on, but the fast forward button doesn't even enter your mind. then, after all the prejudice, you get swept away in the moment of a brilliant film and you realize... thank god he still makes films. it doesn't hurt that i'd download jonathan rhys meyers in a toothpaste commercial, but even scarlet found her groove in this one. this movie isn't the mark of a director, but of a movie maker.

Proof (2005)

powerful performance

[8/10 · 23 September 2005]

by the dialogue, you can tell this story began as a very good play. the issue with making a movie from a very good play is that you have to add something impossible to do on stage. i think paltrow does an excellent job. i'm not a big gwyn fan, but the way she portrayed her deep sadness throughout the movie, in closeups you wouldn't see from the balcony section of a theater - the fragility of her grasp on reality, the trauma of watching her father deteriorate before her eyes... this is something beyond "a beautiful mind," which centered more on the hallucinations and surreality of a victim of mental disease. "proof," instead, focuses on the father-daughter relationship and how, even after caring for his deteriorated mind for years, a daughter doesn't think twice about seeking her father's approval - as if he could be coherent for the moment she needed him to be. i thought that was the most poignant part of the movie. there's not a lot to the story of the movie, but the depth in the performances - paltrow, hopkins and hope davis - is worth the ticket. its nice to actually see a very good movie once in a while.

Life as a House (2001)

cry baby

[9/10 · 5 September 2005]

its rare that a movie surprises me. the fact that this one did on so many levels may prove that my radar needs a readjustment. i should have known by an initial perusal of the cast list - Kevin Kline, Kristen Scott Thomas, Mary Steenburgen - but i confess, the Hayden Christensen part really blew the entire endeavor off my screen entirely. here's some advice... forgive him the Jedi movies. trust me, you'll pee in your pants before running to the restroom just to see what he'll do next. he plays the role with such realism, i wanted to take notes. Irwin Winkler, you're my hero. the idea that the camera catches a moment in a life has never been portrayed so poignantly. screw you for making me cry, tho... i have to wake up early tomorrow.

(ps: i can't believe spell check made me capitalize Jedi)