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Fall Movie Review Roundup: Things We Lost in the Fire, Reservation Road, Rendition
Hey all. Be sure to check out the IMDb home page today and scroll down to "Today's IMDb Poll Question." Pretty sweet!
The cleanse is over, and I've got some movie reviews to catch up on...
The titles of these movies should really be: We Want Oscars, Gimme Oscars, and Please Please Please Oscar Me Right the Hell Now! It's too bad they all kinda suck.
THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE (C)
Things I lost in this movie: patience, interest, the desire to watch it to completion.
Halle Berry's husband (played by David Duchovny) dies. His old friend Benicio del Toro comes to the funeral, and Berry asks him to live with her and her children. Which makes sense, because he's a highly unstable drug addict.
Berry is good, and I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before, but I consider her to be quite a handsome woman. Del Toro is strong as usual. But this is one dull flick. It's two hours but feels like three. The numerous Duchovny flashbacks could have easily been cut and it wouldn't have made a lick of difference on the final product. We get it, she loved her husband, and he was a sweet dude. Why do we need to see it acted out?
And another thing, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
RESERVATION ROAD (C+)
Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jennifer Connelly in a serious drama about loss, pain, and death from the director of Hotel Rwanda? Let's just clear a space on the mantel right now!
Not. So. Fast.
Reservation Road is a ridiculous movie, jam-packed with so many over-the-top coincidences you might think you're watching an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Ruffalo is speeding down Reservation Road with his son. He runs over the son of Phoenix and Connelly, and continues driving. This intriguing setup rapidly deteriorates. I guess I won't spoil anything for you should you want to see this, but just know that each character reacts in the most unbelievable way possible, again and again. Know that characters will intersect in ways that make Crash seem like the pinnacle of reasonable storytelling. Know that there are "symbols" that will have you rolling your eyes. Example: Ruffalo is shown running for exercise about thirty times. See, because he hit and ran! And he's running from the truth! Don't you see?! Don't you?! It's so deep!
Sigh. It's a shame too, because Ruffalo and Phoenix are really good. Reservation Road held my interest and kept me intrigued, but it was more a desire to see what ludicrousity the filmmakers were going to throw my way next than anything else. I liked Reservation Road, but with major... reservations.
Thank you.
RENDITION (C-)
It's fitting that Rendition is about torture, because I wanted to tie this movie up and shock its genitals. Reese Witherspoon's Egyptian husband disappears on a flight to Washington D.C. Turns out he's been suspected of having ties to terrorism, and he's being tortured in a secret detention facility to get information. Mildly conflicted CIA analyst Jake Gyllenhaal watches the torture and grows increasingly mildly conflicted about the whole thing. Oh, and there's some completely random subplot about a North African girl trying to select a husband. The plots eventually sync up, but you'll have tuned out by then.
Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, and particularly Meryl Streep are good in their brief roles, but all they do is point out the unbridled shittiness of everyone else. Gyllenhaal barely registers, and Witherspoon -- an actress I have adored in the past -- gives not only her worst performance but one of the worst female performances of the year. She is unbearable and embarrassing, particularly in the scene pictured above. Maybe the Oscar made her lazy, she's at middle school play level here.
But how can I criticize? Rendition is about an IMPORTANT ISSUE. Yeah, and it should inspire post-film conversations about as deep as this:
MOVIEGOER #1: Hm. So torturing innocent people -- I've decided I'm against it.
MOVIEGOER #2: I am also against it.
MOVIEGOER #1: Glad we saw Rendition tonight or I would have been totally in support of torturing innocent people.
MOVIEGOER #2: Totally. Want to get some pie?
MOVIEGOER #1: Indeed I do, Moviegoer #2. Indeed I do.
Moviegoer #1 and #2 begin to passionately have sex without protection.
Man, IMDb must be running out of poll ideas, eh?
totally awesome. you're like famous or something...
Does commenting here qualify as hobknobbing with a shtah???? I liked your
list and my favorite of your 7 is most definately About Schmidt. But I
would have to add As Good As It Gets and Lost In Translation.
I'm so glad you found rendition and boring and pointless as I did!
If you come out for my birthday thing this weekend, I am officially
introducing you to everyone as "Cinematical's Patrick Walsh."
Rob, Sam,