Saturday

Renting videos has become quite difficult lately. I went in to my local store yesterday looking for a new release to watch, only to find that I'd seen virtually all of them already at the cinema. Those that I hadn't seen, I didn't want to see. Most of the time, it seems, I will just have to choose between those that I liked the first time. Luckily, however, there was one movie (and I'm pretty sure only one) that I hadn't seen in the theatre, but had wanted to see: The Black Dahlia. This seemed to me like a bad copy of L.A. Confidential. Perhaps the novel by James Ellroy was good, but the adaptation seemed unnecessarily confusing (although watching it in parts over five hours might have hindered me there). Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank were good, but Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson were miscast. Hartnett was ok, and could be good in this sort of role, but Johansson was too innocent and blank to pull off this role. She has no character or interest. Overall, the film seemed too light, too clear and colourful. The mood wasn't right at all. I was especially disturbed by the unexplained first-person steadicam shot we got at one point of Hartnett greeting Swank's family. Very odd. If it's referencing something else, fine, but it left me perturbed. I've never particularly got along with Brian De Palma. I thought this film might change my mind. It almost did, but not quite.