Steel White Table

The Visitor — In a multiplex full of crappy Hollywood blockbusters, The Visitor is an unusual find. It’s a nice quiet night at the movies (there were plenty of empty seats when I saw it last week). It’s a simple story of a professor sleepwalking through his humdrum life until he finds some people living in his usually vacant New York apartment. He becomes friends with them, and that’s all you need to know. It’s a story about finding friendship in the most unlikely places. There’s no flash or glitter or contrived twists and turns. It’s just a story about life, and it’s a good one. (May 9/08)

Brief Encounter — A 1946 film about two people who meet, have strong feelings for one another, toy with the idea of taking their brief encounter to another level and then… I won’t tell you want happens. My initial feelings were, “I’m not in the mood to watch some stiff British actors sit around a table with their cups of tea and say la-dee-da back and forth for an hour and a half,” but I’m glad I stuck it out. Over looking the film’s dated qualities is a small price to pay for a love story that rivals anything out of Casablanca. And what an ending! (May 16/08)

A Mighty Heart — I’m not sure what to say, so I’m quoting the linked review from James Berardinelli: “Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and subsequent death at the hands of terrorists became a major media story during January and February 2002… A video leaked to the Internet showing Pearl’s decapitation magnified the tragedy. A Mighty Heart… examines events of that one month period from the perspective of those who sought Daniel’s release: his pregnant wife [played well by Angelina Jolie], his friends and colleagues at The Wall Street Journal, and the Pakistani security forces. The film is fascinating and at times disturbing, but Winterbottom’s arms-length style mutes any emotional impact.” I felt like I was watching a documentary. And thankfully they don’t show the beheading. (May 12/08)

Scarface — A silly, over-rated 1980s gangster movie that is so melodramatic and dated, it’s a joke. Cubans who hear Al Pacino’s Cuban accent must laugh the way Newfoundlanders laugh at the accents in The Shipping News. It may be fun to watch as a cheesy, over-the-top, violent, blood and guts B-movie, but an animé cartoon with the same two-dimensional characters would have been just as dramatic. (May 10/08.)

I post more film commentary at Mud Songs.

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Tags: al pacino, angelina jolie, brief encounter, daniel pearl, scarface

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