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jfrahman
Reviews
Tenderness (2009)
Never takes off
This movie was a great disappointment to watch due to a number of factors, all of which combine to make for a flat and unexciting viewing experience.
First off, it is clear from the outset that Jon Foster killed his parents but had that crime expunged from his record, so Detective Cristofuoro's relentless pursuit of him is altogether pointless. Cops don't just chase people around like that because they THINK they MAY do something, they go after people who have already done bad things, and in this case Foster hadn't done anything to merit this pursuit. The "dramatic" scene towards the end of the movie when Det. Cristofuoro and his cadre of New York state troopers try to arrest Foster was the breaking point for me, as they treated him as though he had actually committed a crime when all he had done was drive to see the girl Maria who had written him a note right before his release from jail (apparently in an inadequately-explained attempt to entrap him trying to kill another young woman).
Then there's Lori. It becomes clear at some point that her mom's boyfriend Gary has molested her at least once in the past, but I felt no sympathy for her whatsoever in her neurotic and obsessive pursuit of Foster. By halfway through the movie I almost WANTED her to die and get the plot going! Her eventual suicide by drowning was entirely anti-climactic and really did nothing for the plot or to develop any feelings of empathy on the part of the viewer with her character.
Going back to Foster, he acts creepy, and it is made clear that he killed his parents because they found evidence of his killing and posthumous defilement of an unnamed girl who is flashed to at various time throughout the movie. His alleged religiousness simply serves to make him a little creepier without serving any deeper purpose (except perhaps to point out that the director has a dismal opinion of Christianity).
His ending up in jail at the end of the movie was enough for me to exclaim that this crapper of a film wasted 101 minutes of my life I will never get back.
In short: too many glaring plot holes, and insufficient character development. I just didn't care about any of the characters even by the end of the movie, and certainly got no plot closure.
The Road (2009)
Unrelentingly depressing and grim...as appropriate
In a nutshell, some unspecified catastrophe (from the few hints the movie gives you, an asteroid impact) has destroyed the Earth's biosphere, and reduced the few surviving humans to brutish lives of scavenging and cannibalism. This movie is the story of the Man (played brilliantly by Viggo Mortensen) and his son the Boy trying to survive in this very harsh post-apocalyptic hell as they make their way to the coast, presumably to find other survivors and eventually to make their way south to warmer climes.
In between scenes of the Man and the Boy dealing with cannibal marauders and insane survivors, the film flashes back to immediately after the catastrophe, when the Man's wife (played by Charlize Theron) first gives birth to the Boy, then slowly loses hope until she decides to wander off into the waste and end her own life. The film is washed out and gray, much like 'The Book of Eli', but unlike that movie this one gives the viewer very little reason for optimism.
It is the very tender scenes between the Man and his son that made this movie so compelling, and so difficult to watch, for me. In particular one would have to have a heart of stone and ice in their veins not to be moved to tears by the scene where the Man shows the Boy how to end his own life in case capture by cannibal raiders is imminent, to avoid (in the words of the Woman) being raped, tortured, killed and eaten. As they make their way through the terribly bleak and dangerous countryside it is clear that the Man is losing his grip on humanity, as evidenced both by his reluctance to help the Old Man (played masterfully by Robert Duvall) and his humiliation of the Thief. In spite of this, however, his love for the Boy never falters, and even though he is very sick and eventually is severely injured by the Archer leading to his death, he is able to protect his son for as long as he survives.
Having two young sons myself I was moved to tears numerous times while watching this movie. The people in the ruined world the pair wander through are all severely damaged, especially the cannibals who in a particularly disturbing scene are found to have a dark cellar full of insane prisoners who act more demon that human, whom they harvest for their meat.
Some have criticized this movie for being so bleak and grim; however it makes sense that a world without most of its biosphere would be just such a living hell for those inhabiting it.
I have not read Cormack McCarthy's book this movie is based upon, but it is now on my must-read list.
This is one of those rare movies that will haunt you for a long time after you see it.
The Book of Eli (2010)
Great flick, in the same vein as 'Fallout 3' and 'The Road'
I watched this movie fully aware that the book Denzel Washington's character Eli was carrying was a Bible, and actually put off watching it because I find religious polemics of any type quite distasteful, seeing as how I have one Muslim and one Methodist parent. I'd just watched 'The Road' the weekend before, however, and gave this movie a shot just because I was in a post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 sort of mood. I was not disappointed.
In a nutshell, rather than a plug for Protestant Christianity (the branch I understand reveres the King James Bible), I took this movie as the chronicle of one man to preserve a sliver of the knowledge accumulated by humankind before 'The Flash' (presumably a nuclear exchange) destroyed civilization and most of the biosphere 30 years before. If this movie had been set in a Muslim country the protagonist would have had a Quran on his person, in a Buddhist country perhaps the Tripitaka (although that is a whole shelf of books and not just one).
Denzel Washington played his role very well, a sort of post-apocalyptic American Zaotichi, although to be honest I did not catch on to the fact that he was supposed to be blind; this unnecessary plot twist is why I give this movie a 7 instead of a higher rating. Gary Oldman, as always, played his villain role to the hilt; I halfway expected him to bust out with the "Jean-Baptiste...Emmanuel...Zorg" Southern drawl (5th Element) at some point, glad he didn't though. Mila Kunis was passable as Solara, even though it's difficult to see her as anyone but Jackie Burkhart from "That 70's Show".
One complaint: as many copies of the King James Bible are in existence, it's inconceivable that Eli was in possession of the only one left, in Braille to boot. The last copy of the Gospel of Peter would have been more compelling.
Still, this was a very entertaining movie that got me thinking about some profound questions of existence, and in spite of the weaknesses in the plot it was a movie that had hope for the future in the end, very much unlike 'The Road'. I watched it twice in the 24 hours I had it (rented from Blockbuster) because I liked it that much.
She he ba bu (1978)
A must-see for Tekken fans!!!
If you've ever played Lei in any version of Tekken, Hsu Yin Fong is the character he has to be based on. Just look at the crazy 'Snake and Crane' stuff he does in this flick...the greatest Lei player, ever! This movie also contains the immortal line, "We're from the Wu-Tang Clan! If you know what's good for you you'll hand over that book!", right before Hsu Yin Fong unleashes the fury of the snake and crane on a whole restaurant-full of opponents, stopping every once in a while to relax on a chair for a bit or grab a bite to eat as he takes all these guys to school. This really is a classic movie that should be in the collection of anyone who likes gongfu movies. Peace -Jameel