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Reviews
Manhattan (1979)
I Want to Like This Movie
And that's why I am giving it a 6 instead of a 4. I've read dozens of reviews of Manhattan, trying to understand what people love about it. Each and every review praises the romance brought to screen. There must be something wrong with me because I didn't find this movie romantic at all. It seemed like a string of narcissistic flings more than any true romances. Not one character was the least bit appealing, except maybe for Tracy, if only for her sincerity. I thought Issac was a complete louse, and not because of the age difference; he just seemed selfish, flippant, and needy. He did have some good lines though, especially mocking the pseudo-intellectual art crowd, and the scene with the skeleton was pretty great. I thought Keaton was annoying, and Streep was pacing around way too much. Was she attached to a motor or something? Look, it's not that I need to have lovable characters. Scorsese has horrible characters but they serve the story, when the point is corruption, violence, what have you. But if the point is romance, then the characters should at least be tolerable. Not these neurotic rich white new yorkers! Maybe other ones in other Allen vehicles. The music was about a thousand decibels louder than the rest of the sound in the film, so that I was forced to keep adjusting the volume with the remote, even though I don't like altering the experience of a work. The photography is wonderful. Too bad the content underneath it is so banal. And I like banality! My favorite director is Robert Altman, for goodness sake. It didn't make sense to me that the film making was so artistic, yet what I was watching was so bland. It's like if Orson Wells shot Monster-in-law. Well, that might be an exaggeration. Anyhow, the style just didn't seem appropriate. Maybe it would have if I had felt the amazing romance. Or if I had seen this when I was going through my wistful New York phase. Alas, Manhattan is certainly not what it once was, too bad. Basically, I felt like this should have been my kind of movie but just wasn't at all, and there aren't enough negative words about it on the internet. That's why I have written this. I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for liking Manhattan, as I wouldn't fault anyone for liking your mom, it just misses the mark with me.
Crumb (1994)
Terry Zwigoff, Robert Crumb
This is a not only a great documentary but also a great movie. The music is awesome. Each interview is smart and is the perfect length. The coverage of the actual cartoons is superb. Terry Zwigoff treats the contentious bones of Crumb's work evenly by showing both his detractors and devotees. The movie makes you think about whether or not Crumb is a misogynist, jerkstore, racist, sadist etc. I tend to decide that he is none of the above, just misunderstood. In fact, it seems pretty obvious that he loves women. Though he's revealed some of his most brutal sex fantasies, you couldn't imagine him ever, like, abusing a woman.. In the commentary, Terry Z talks about how he did a screening at Berkeley to a terribly negative response, mostly because people were disgusted with Crumb's character. Anyway, a fascinating document.. take a look.
The Notebook (2004)
it's a schmaltzfest, but it's watchable
This movie is engaging, and the photography is pretty. Everyone seems to have liked it.. even dads. The period details are thorough, succeeding to conjure the atmosphere of a simpler, more romantic time. However, it is hard not to feel tricked when movies do this because of course life has always been complicated and dizzying, scarcely turning out to be as wonderful as it was dreamed. There is a shadowy area between what is actually romantic and what is romanticized to the point of artifice. The romanticizing in this movie can be excused somewhat because of the characters' states of being-- the story is mapped out in memories of people who desperately attempt to re-envision them, to savor the beauty of their relationship before time runs out. We all romanticize the past.
But the spirit of the old man Noah to me seemed too jazzy. It's especially evident in his conversation with the nurses. In addition to his lines, maybe the casting could be blamed for this. The personalities of the old man Noah and young Noah were too divergent. People only transform so much over time, and the reticence of young Noah just seemed too much in place to produce such a lively old guy. Rachel McAdams is a pleasure to watch, even though her performance was rather unvaried, including much coquettish giggling on the other side of puffed-up fussiness. Gosling turned out to be less fun than he promised at first. Parts of the script were good, others unbearable.. the whole bird thing comes to mind.
In the end, most of my complaints are simply a matter of taste, as with any review. I thought this movie could use a little criticism.