Sunday

My problem with The Mission, which I watched again recently, is the message, or ethos, it is recommending. Aside from this I believe it is a remarkable film, containing one of the best musical scores ever written, and the most stunning scenery ever photographed. This ethos, however, irritated me. What exactly does the movie suggest? Neither violence or peaceful resistance have any effect. It could be that the outcome of the plot is nothing to do with what the film recommends. Rather, it could be found in nature of the main character. Jeremy Irons seems the 'hero'. He believes in love alone, not that it will conquer over violence in this world, but in eternity. If this is the message of the movie, I find it a bit cloying. Yet, there is something strangely compelling about the film's refusal to give you any clear meaning, any hope, or any particular unhappy ending. You are left saddened but somehow inspired. It is easy to say that this movie is nothing without the score and the scenery - there is little dialogue or action, and the narrator is inconsistent and unnecessary. Overall, it seems, this movie leaves me confused rather than confident.

Thursday

[This is the second part of yesterday's post.]

However, this dilemma reminds me of something that is happening, or has already happened, in modern art. Remember a conversation you had with a friend about Tracey Emin's My Bed. Didn't they say something like 'I could've done that myself'? He, or she, was giving a very old fashioned view that says only art made from hard work, experience, and technical skill qualifies as 'good'. This in turn is connected to the equally old view that anything worthwhile in this life takes hard work. It is troubling that anyone can put a pile of bricks together and call it art, or put their writing on the internet and call themselves a writer, but this doesn't devalue the work itself. Ease of production shouldn't affect our appreciation. So, why do I have a problem with Sky+, with its easy access to any show you want to watch at any time? Perhaps it is jealousy? Perhaps it is Western guilt that makes me reject high technology? And yet I have desktop and laptop computers, a mobile phone, an MP3 player, two TVs, Freeview, a VCR, a DVD player and a Home Cinema System. Where have I imagined there is a dividing line? None of this is 'necessary', in whatever terms. Perhaps I am afraid of change, and perhaps the answer is that we should embrace change, but always be aware of the cost of achieving it, and what was lost in doing so.

Wednesday

Many years ago Alex and I lived together, and as he bought Sky and then Sky+, I remember complaining 'It makes life too easy'. I don't think I had much of an explanation as to why that was a bad thing. With the recent promotion of Sky+, and Virgin's alternative, I find myself feeling the same thing again. This time, however, I might have an explanation. Slavoj Zizek argues that such devices (like the VCR) take pleasure away from you, rather than give it to you, and I can't help agreeing with him. These are devices that make you more dependent, not more independent. Something is being taken away from you, not given to you. The plush, clean, sophisticated adverts for Sky+ with major celebrities recommending it, in some way dishearten me. They seem empty and vacuous, and I can't help thinking this is the type of life they are advocating also: a life where you no longer have to do anything, everything is done for you. The box will not only record the programs for you, it will watch them too, saving you time and effort.

[Part two of this post will appear tomorrow.]

Tuesday

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a movie. You might think I need to finish that sentence, but I don't think I do. It's a 'movie' movie, in the sense that Alien is a film and Aliens is a movie*. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than well-made good fun. Those are its own limits, and we shouldn't judge it by our own. Occasionally we have to say 'Its limits aren't high enough', or 'I don't like the limits it has set itself', but that is a different issue altogether. You can't not enjoy this movie in some way, and I don't think it relies on the previous two films for much of its effect. Although, I did want a little more nonchalant Indiana Jones escaping from near-death and smiling wryly about it. On the other hand, Cate Blanchett's character was a little too much comic-book. Also, several scenes were just a little too fantastic, even for Indiana Jones. You also have to ask more wide-ranging questions, such as: Is he an appropriate hero for the age we now live in? (The fear of terrorism, ecological disaster age? I'm not sure that he is.) I won't say whether you should or shouldn't see this film, it's just one of those that you either feel you have to or not, and that, in a way, has already decided how much you'll enjoy it.

*For more on this, see my previous post here.

Wednesday

There are three things you may have noticed. The first is that I stopped posting for a while and have now started again. The second is that the films I've posted about recently are different to those I usually watch. And the third is that there is a new feature to every post I make called 'Movie News'. This last addition is fairly self-explanatory. I don't want this to be a movie news website, but I thought there might be some readers who'd appreciate the headlines as to what's happening in Hollywood. The first two things I mentioned are related to me spending time with a new girlfriend, and inevitably having to 'compromise' (at least this is what she calls it) on my movie choices. My theory has always been, however, that if you don't watch bad films, you won't know what good ones are. Plus, as I've recently proved, you can find something interesting or surprising even in the worst movies.

Movie News: Iron Man tops the UK and US box office charts; a second movie is already probable.

Tuesday

I was surprised last night by a movie called Prime, starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. You may not have even heard of it. I think its cinema release, in 2006, was muted (at least here in the UK). Inevitably it was billed as a 'chick-flick', but once again this categorisation is slightly off. Thurman plays a recently divorced woman in her late 30s who gets involved with a man only twenty-three years old. It sounds awful, I know. But there is an intelligent sensitivity about this film that impressed me. Yes, there is humour, but I wouldn't call this a comedy. Neither is it entirely a romance. It is at times quite mature and realistic in its outlook. It reminded me of the brilliant The Break-Up, or even the great Woody Allen films of the late 1970s. What was missing was a better actor to play the younger man, and a slightly better script. It needed a sharper edge to it, more humour, and less stereotyped characters. Overall, though, this was surprisingly enjoyable.

Movie News: Amy Winehouse may no longer be doing the new Bond theme tune.

Thursday

It is not without a certain amount of apprehension that a man such as myself sits down to see a movie called 27 dresses. Yes, I had seen trailers, and even read a brief review. I knew what I was letting myself in for. Katherine Heigl had been good in Knocked Up, but that was no reason to see every film she made. The film was written and directed by people who had had some success in the past, but nothing I had, or had wanted, to see. So, I sat down not expecting much, and I was right to do so. This is not a good film. But then you didn't really think I was going to say it was, did you? It was, however, fun in the light-hearted, candy-for-the-brain type way that such movies are. I did laugh, and I did get marginally involved with the dilemmas of the characters. Aside from a few original moments, however, the situations were so overworked and the 'I know how this will end' factor so ubiquitous, that I can't imagine the movie having any lasting value, even to those who like this kind of film. So, if your girlfriend wants you to go to the cinema this weekend, this is the best of your options.

Movie News: Cruise set to make fourth Mission: Impossible.