Movie Update III

I’m still not watching the number of moves I need to be watching to meet my goal, but this was a pretty good week. I also even took the time to see a movie not on my list. And some good news: No Country for Old Men is schedule to come out in a couple of weeks, and I’m really looking forward to that one. So without further adieu, here’s what I’ve seen and my hack reviews:

Hotel Rwanda (#75) – overall a good movie, but I think it’s overrated. I liked the movie, but I think most of its acclaim has more to do with the subject rather than the storytelling or style. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me on this one. But other than Don Cheadle’s performance, I wouldn’t say there was anything outstanding about the movie.

Das Boots (#64) – Okay, I have to admit, I might be cheating by marking this one off my list. I only saw about 1.5 hours of the 3+ hours of this one. Why? Because I was bored to tears and fell asleep at least three times watching it. I nearly cried when I saw on IMDB that there’s a 5 hour version of this one. The movie is about a crew of Nazi submariners. It’s a WWII movie about Nazis, it should be pretty exciting, no? No. At least not for me. There does seem to be a very large following for this one, but I have no reason why. Maybe I’ll give this one another shot, but not for a long time.

2001: A space Odyssey (#80) – My second Kubrick movie. I have to say, I’m still divided on this one. I liked the story telling in this one, and the special effects were fantastic, especially considering this is a film from the 60s. But I think when you weigh the plot against the special effects, there’s more effects than substance. I’m not the sort of movie watcher who is enamored with special effects. I need a good story to hold my attention, which is why I usually run from all the CGI crap that’s been coming out recently. I think there were a couple of places where the story could have really taken off but didn’t. I understand that Kubrick wanted to leave the film open to interpretation, but I think he still could have done that without leaving so much undeveloped plot. As for the ending, well, I’m still trying to sort that out.

Rebecca (#78) – A(.) Hitchcock film, and a great one at that. This really is a great example of storytelling and plot twists. I don’t know how to explain myself without going into detail. I’ll say it this way, I haven’t seen a lot of Hitchcock, so I’m still learning his style. I’ve also seen enough variety to know that he doesn’t just tell one kind of story. I fear saying any more would reveal too much. From the batch of movies I’ve seen this week, I think this one was the best.

Darjeeling Limited – Not on my list, but I saw it anyway. I was going to watch American Gangster, but Hollywood Video was out. Oh well… this one was a nice, quirky film. If you like off the wall characters, you’ll probably like this one.