——Nicolas Nickleby——

(B+)

Like a cute puppy that you say you can’t take home because you don’t have the money or the space or the time to take care of it, Nicolas Nickleby will so charm the pants off of you that you will take it home with you no matter what the excuses are that you come up with in your mind. There is nothing particularly spectacular about the film–the direction is merely good, the script competent if nothing special–and yet its overall message will just get under your skin to make you think the film is better than it really is. In reality the script feels a little rushed (it should when trying to adapt an 800 page Dickens novel into just over two hours) and the wraps itself up a little too easily and cleanly. The Christian moralist ending, familiar to anyone who’s seen or read A Christmas Carol, almost seems forced with only the bare bones of circumstances to support it. However, it is the actors that really end up holding the weight of the film up, and it is they that make you think more fondly on the film than perhaps a cast not as irresistible as this one. The actor that plays Nicolas is so good that you want to believe he can make everything work out because he is just so damn likable. The Billy Eliot boy throws so much energy into the role of a crippled boy that Nicolas saves that what should have been an annoying role turns into something extremely sympathetic. The evil uncle is also flawlessly played, as well just about all of the supporting roles and the beautiful Anne Hathaway, who makes you believe that you could make anything right if put in the same circumstances. Overall this isn’t a bad film, just an average one, but the energy of the cast and the message of the film make you come out of it finding it much more agreeable than you probably should.

——Bowling for Columbine——

(A)

I found this Michael Moore documentary incredibly interesting and captivating. I was amazed at how easily he could slip between making fun of something to being extremely serious about something else, sometimes in the same breath. Some of the images really got to me: the shot of the second plane flying into World Trade Center especially got to me after almost two years, proving September 11th will probably be a day I never get over. What I got out of the film (since Moore doesn’t really answer his question of why are there more gun deaths in the United States than anywhere else, he just throws out several suggestions to the audience) is that the reason we are so gun crazy is because we as a whole are a nation of cowards who use false machismo to cover up are deep felt insecurities. I mean, what really are we afraid of? We live in the greatest country in the world, and yet we are afraid of everything. Not only do we not trust the world around us, but also we don’t even trust each other. We were born a country of Puritans who thought everything that felt good was Evil, and everything that hurt you was Evil, and therefore you have to be afraid of everything, because you don’t really know what could be Evil in this world. Instead of trying to unite the country our Presidents make us as afraid of forces from the outside as from the inside, thus building a capitalist economy of fear. Forget real issues like health care and unemployment, why not tackle media violence? Just about every other free country has the same exposure to violence that we do, but they don’t shoot each other. I think the best part of the documentary came from the interview from Matt Stone and then later the cartoon on the history of America. It hit on two key issues: Kids are afraid to go to school everyday and no one cares, and America has run from one issue to be afraid of to the next, always hiding behind their guns. I think to really end gun violence we have to teach America to not be afraid all of the time. Why is it that violent crimes have been dropping about 10-20% a year and yet coverage of violent crimes has been going up 600% a year? What is the news media trying to do to us? Bastards. And I’d definitely watch a show called Corporate Cops. I don’t think there could be anything funnier than watching a cop chase a guy in a $1,000 suit with a taser.

——Seabiscuit——

(B-)

This movie really pissed me off. It took a great story and Hollywood cheesed it up to the point of distracting you from what really mattered: the horse. The fact that this is probably considered the “Summer Oscar movie” annoys me to no end, because if this is nominated for an Oscar I’m going to lose all faith in the Academy.

Seabiscuit gives the viewer entirely too much back-story. Some of it, like Red and Seabiscuit’s histories are really interesting and help further explain what motivates them. Other things, like the owner’s history, are kind of interesting but to a point really don’t have much to actually do with Seabiscuit. Way too much time is spent with character’s back-story before we actually get to what we came to see. And then there is the Ken Burns-esq documentary bullshit that I don’t think has any place in this film. It is cheesy and cheap and simply put, it annoys the hell out of me. I like the idea that Seabiscuit lifted the spirits of a down on itself nation, but we already get that from the actual film. Do we really need to be then TOLD how important Seabiscuit was? Show it, don’t tell it, you dicks.

If I were making this movie I probably would have started in Mexico. The owner has just lost his wife and child, but we don’t need to see it. Knowing about it works just as well. Lengthen this section a little bit (because I really enjoyed this section) and then move straight on to Seabiscuit, because really he was my favorite part of the film (and my reason for even being there). That horse is damn charming; it’s like watching an up-and-coming actor act in his first big role. The horse racing was really exciting. Please don’t cut to old photographs when the race starts. I wanted to fucking throw my shoe at the screen when they did that. Just focus on the damn horse. He can carry the movie. Dipshits. Seabiscuit is a fun movie, if a deeply flawed one. Worth checking out if you are a horse fan, but otherwise I’d stay away.

——Casino——

(B)

I really, really liked the first say third of this film. It was entertaining, very well shot, and it kept moving you along through the world of the casino without giving you a break. Then something happened. The story started. And it wasn’t really that great. It was like Raging Bull and Goodfellas again, only not as good. Joe Pesci was the exact same character he always plays. Robert Deniro had a character that was pretty dull. And you just wanted to slap Sharon Stone. I had no sympathy for any of the characters, and after about an hour and a half, two hours of this movie that at almost three hours is already too long, I just stopped caring. I find I really don’t like true crime stories because they are fun up to a point, and then they just fall off the face of the planet. I had the same problem with Blow, Serpico, Goodfellas, and to a smaller extent Donnie Brasco. These films build up and build up and then their endings just sort of fizzle out at the end. It drives me crazy. I really wanted to like Casino (at one point I really DID like Casino) but the story just got dull, doing the same old song and dance for me again. Other than some cool shots and a great soundtrack I can’t really see much to recommend about this film unless you are someone who’s never seen a gangster movie before.