Collected Thoughts #1

With my final semester of college beginning, starting a job this week, buying and moving into my first house, and a first kid on the way, not to mention my several other Internet projects, I realize now that I can't continue writing full-fledged pieces on everything I watch. I will, however, try to do these capsule reviews every week or two on what I've watched since my last writing and my thoughts.

Pride and Gloryy (2008) was sterile and cold. The corrupt cop story has been done many times. The score was intrusive and manipulative. Edward Norton and Colin Farrell played close to their respective strengths, but neither hit any notes we haven't seen previously and done better.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) was enjoyable from the standpoint of someone who has loosely followed the franchise (through film adaptations only). It was noticeably darker, both visually and in terms of content. No real strokes of genius, but fairly strong character acting from series lynchpins like Alan Rickman and Michael Gambon helps. Sets up to the inevitable finale quite abruptly.

Inland Empire (2006) is a nearly three-hour journey through the nightmarish, bizarre mind of filmmaker David Lynch. Deals with the perception of reality, frightening forewarnings, prostitutes revealing their bare breasts, spousal abuse, murder, hypnosis, jealousy, adultery, and -- well, the list could go on and on. Lynch is certainly not for everybody. Amid disturbing imagery and the film's undeniable mysteriousness, Laura Dern gives a fantastic performance and anchors the film admirably, arguably its saving grace from devolving to a completely muddled misstep. Shot on digital video it has a certain grainy aesthetic that I liked. Despite its inherent weirdness, I did find myself fascinated by it, and it takes up residence in your mind long after it ends.

Morvern Callar (2002) is a quiet character study of a girl (Morvern Callar played by Samantha Morton) in the days following her boyfriend's unexpected suicide. We basically fill the role of voyeurs, watching on as Morvern picks up the pieces of her life, working at a supermarket, opening her Christmas presents, and chopping up her decaying lover's corpse in the bathtub. Callar erases her boyfriend's name from his manuscript and submits it as her own work. We don't know why Callar is as she is, unfortunately, we're only privy to the present as she pushes forward past grief and loss. It's a film that feels unresolved in some ways, but while it didn't appeal to me on some levels, Morton's performance is captivating, even with very little dialogue, and for it alone the film is worth a serious look.