Quick Ratings/Reviews of The Week

Dobermann - 1997 directed by Jan Kounen
7/10
All you need to know about this film is that in one scene a character literally wipes his arse with a copy of Les Cahiers Du Cinema, this is the perfect way to sum up this film.
Read my full review here!


Dick Tracy - 1990 directed by Warren Beatty
8/10
I am always drawn to films with unique visual styles and Dick Tracy is certainly one of the most unique I've seen.
The film itself is hardly one of the best I've seen, but it does have a handful of great performances such as Al Pacino's marvellous villain Big Boy Caprice. On the whole it was an amusing homage to film Noir with good performances, great make up and a unique visual design, that enough to make me ignore the flaws, with include a ridiculous score by Danny Elfamn, a poor performance by Madonna and one of the most annoying child actors ever.

Synecdoche, New York - 2008 directed by Charlie Kaufman
9/10
The more I see of Philip Seymour Hoffman, the more I realise that he is one of the best actors if his generation. I can't recall a single performance of his I didn't like and I've seen much of his work.
Kaufman also happens to be one of my favourite screenwriters, as I've watched and enjoyed Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Being John Malkkovich and Adaptation. Even though Spike Jonze was supposed to direct this one, as he had the previous two, he instead went off to make Where The Wild Things Are, which was disappointing to put it lightly. However this means Kaufman took of the directing responsibilities himself and does a surprisingly great job for a first time director.
Ebert called this film one of the best of the decade and I would be tempted to agree with him for it is a wonderful film that is epic in it's scale that spans most of a man's life. It is depressing but very thought provoking, and I was very impressed by it's honesty.


Short Cuts - 1993 directed by Robert Altman
6/10
I didn't think much of this film, but to be honest I'm not really surprised, so far he only Altman film I've really enjoyed is The Player (which I think is excellent), but MASH, Gosford Park and The Long Goodbye I thought were all average at best.
This one was yet another disappointment, the cast was one of the best I've ever seen put on film but they had little to do except portray the mundane lives of unlikeable people doing horrible things to each other. For three hours.
There is no redemption towards the end, only a disappointing ending.
Paul Thomas Anderson did it far better in Magnolia.

Batman Begins - 2005 directed by Christopher Nolan
6/10
I was surprises at how much I had forgotten this film, I only remembered a few scenes here and there but had forgotten the plot.
Upon rewatching it I must admit that I liked it more than the Dark Knight, but I still had many problems with it. I thought it went far to over the top at the end and left many things unanswered which I didn't like. Also the performances were nothing special and Liam Neeson's facial hair was some of the worst I've seen in a while.
So all in all, it's a pretty enjoyable action film, but takes itself far to seriously and ends up in an unsatisfying manner.

The Little Shop of Horrors, original directed by Roger Corman and remake directed by Frank OZ
Read my thoughts on these two films here!

Capote - 2005 directed by Bennet Miller
8/10
An interesting film that I watched mainly to see Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance, I wasn't disappointed as he was great but the film felt rather incomplete to me, there some something I couldn't quite grasp which bothered me throughout.
Still, Hoffman was good enough to keep me watching despite the fact that the story was pretty uninvolving in my opinion. Catherine Keener was also great as Harper Lee, but had a rather small role.

Untitled AKA Almost Famous - 2000 directed by Cameron Crowe
9/10
A charming film. I saw the directors cut, known as Untitled, which is actually over 40 minutes longer.
I had been recommended this one many times before but had always approached it cautiously. But now as I've gradually veered towards 60's 70's rock and rarely listen to anything else, I thought I might as well watch it. I was surprised by how much I liked it. Even if it did come off as a bit of a "feel good film", that didn't bother me so much and I enjoyed most of it despite the fact that some of the performances were pretty average.

Did you see anything interesting this past week ?, don't hesitate to comment if you want to share your thoughts of anything, including the films discussed in this post!