Movies Watched The Week of 5/17 - 5/23

We got us a short week here, with both jobs being very busy for me and taking precious time away from laying down and watching cinema. It’s tough, but I think I can get through it.  And sadly, nothing here jumps on the list of great ones or even super rewatchability.  There’s one complete failure, a mediocre take by a legend, and a good little oddity from another legend.  But it’s all interesting to me, so give it a read and tell me what an asshole I am for thinking as such.

Higher Learning (May17th, 2015)

Director: John Singelton

Starring: Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson, Ice Cube, and Michael Rappaport

Boyz N The Hood was a real big movie in 1991, one of those flicks that capture the attention of the world and feels important.  So John Singleton jumped onto the list of hot directors and sadly kinda squandered it.  One only has to see his directorial output past Baby Boy to see how far he’s fallen, only making 3 movies in the last 12 years of the unpopular variety.  And even looking back at Boyz N The Hood, it hasn’t aged particularly well and Singletons directorial style is the reason why it hasn’t aged well.  He isn’t a subtle man, going to bash people over the heads with the messages he is trying to get across.  Nobody is a character really, just a message that are filled with speeches and moments that fall right into that message.  It’s all big and grandiose with obvious music to make you feel something, either a time or feeling.  And all that can be applied to his third movie, Higher Learning, which has all those Singleton flashes.  But what separates this from Boyz N The Hood is that Boyz doesn’t have a lot of characters to spend time on and his message is more narrow and clear, which allows some moments to come in to show who these people are when they aren’t walking motivational posters.    This movie tries so hard to showcase all the problems that could befall a college student, from overworking athletes to racism to rape to misogyny to mental illness to anything you can think it tries to tackle.  So nothing sticks and all of it’s just grating.  It feels phony and contrived and just self righteous.  It’s a big swing and a miss that shows why he hasn’t had the longevity and productivity that Spike Lee has.

Rating: 4/10

The Lady From Shanghai (May 20th, 2015)
Director: Orson Welles
Starring: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane, and Glenn Anders

Off my massive collection of movies on blu ray, I only on two Orson Welles movies and this is one and the other isn’t Citizen Kane.  This is a decent little movie, something that seems to be a work for hire job that he tried to make unique but was screwed over by the studios yet again.  Chopped to bits and forced to deal with reshoots that stand out completely, it has some good moments and ideas but doesn’t really stand together.  It’s supposed to be a black comedy take on a typical murder mystery, but the choppy editing makes it totally convoluted and hard to follow.  And the performances are by the two lawyers in the movie are so big and obnoxious, it can be really hard to watch.  Welles doesn’t fare much better with his insane Irish accent.  Hayworth is just a blank for the most part, so aside from her looks she doesn’t really stand out.  What this movie does is all technical stuff (editing aside) really well.  Good location stuff and a really good climax that Enter The Dragon ripped off, this works decently enough.  But don’t use this as the lynchpin of early black and white hollywood cinema.

Rating: 7/10

Happy Feet (May 23rd, 2015)
Director: George Miller
Starring: Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, and Robin Williams

George Miller may very well be the weirdest and most singular populist director working.  His original Mad Max trilogy was filled to the brim with weird touches and big visuals.  The Witches From Eastwick was crazy, as was his installment in The Twilight Zone Movie.  Even Babe: Pig In The City is so much weirder than the usual kiddie movie fare.  And that continues onto Happy Feet, a movie that features anthropomorphic penguins that are kinda realistically depicted, ignoring the dancing and singing and such.  It’s a musical with some odd choices and a great look.  And it’s got the mexican penguins that kinda take you aback that he’d put them in.  But it’s also a deceptively smart movie, tackling the ravaging of mother nature and even organized religion/extremism in there while also being a love story with a be yourself bent.  It’s a cute movie with some good laughs and is visually gorgeous, not a surprise with Miller.  But it’s a little too long and is structured really weirdly.  It’s not bad and it’s a good time at the movies.  But he’s done better, and maybe the sequel is better since he’s good with sequels. 

Rating: 8/10





Top Movies

1. Happy Feet
2. The Lady From Shanghai
3. Higher Learning

- Tom Lorenzo