I love Hugh Grant as a malevolent atheist bro, and the movie soars on this energy for the first half. Unfortunately, the concept devolves into something much less interesting, focused, or complex than it seems to promise. Could have been truly great with a little more script polishing. Instead, the murkiness of the last third kind of tanks what came before.
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Dancer in the Dark 2000
After a few decades, everything holds up except the terrible digital video.
My conception of the film has shifted from feeling outraged over the character’s experiences, to viewing it as an indictment of the justice system, the death penalty, and capitalism to some degree.
Incredible performances, of course, but I was struck this time by Siobhan Fallon’s moving role as the prison guard—especially as I really only know her from comedy. Would have been nice if von Trier hadn’t killed…
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Pan's Labyrinth 2006
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Nietzsche wrote that a worthwhile book must be an axe to the frozen sea inside us. I believe movies can have the same effect. Watching Pan's Labyrinth the first time did that, cracking open some shell of wonder within me that had grown hardened and dulled. Watching it now, that awakening effect is gone, but my awe for the film remains.
Guillermo del Toro has created a fable for adults that interweaves the horrors of the real world with those…
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Persona 1966
Persona split my mind open. That's a fairly dramatic thing to say, but that's how it felt. The odd thing is that it didn't happen right away. I walked away, the hot metal glowing in the final shot, puzzled and initially disatisfied in some vague way, but then spent the rest of my evening in an odd contemplative daze, almost disassociated from my own self. Any art that can do that is powerful, and Persona is like some strange alkaloid…
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