Showing posts with label Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Show all posts

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Green Hornet: Bruce Lee would not be pleased

Newspaper heir Britt Reid never really cared for much in life except for partying and having a good time. But after the death of his father he decides to don a disguise and make a difference as the crime fighter The Green Hornet. Along with his trusted sidekick Kato they set out to clean up the streets of Los Angeles.

Based off of the 1960's television series of the same name The Green Hornet had something of a Batman vibe to it given the backstory of the main character (Britt Reid, like Bruce Wayne, is a rich kid who decides to take justice into his own hands after the murder of his father). However with Seth Rogen in the role of Reid, the audience was no doubt expecting quite a few hilarious one-liners  and other comic gems to complement the action expected in a superhero film. While the action was present (most of the said action was supplied by Jay Chou who played Kato), the sloppily scripted story never connected with the audience. Rogen's Reid/Green Hornet failed to be anything other than an unfunny, spolied brat who was completely unbelievable as a good guy, let alone a superhero. Christoph Waltz, as the bad guy Chudnofsky, was whinier than a seventeen year old girl who didn't get asked to prom and never amounted to anything menacing or convincingly evil while Cameron Diaz did nothing more than show up and look hot. Even the directing by Michel Gondry (who has directed visually unique films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep) seemed ordinary and added little to an already underwhelming film.

The bad jokes, shoddy story/plot, poor acting and stagnant directing all combined to make The Green Hornet nothing super at all.

Grade: D

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:Yeah, love is that complicated.

Let's be honest, everyone has had one of "those" relationships where you're never quite sure where you stand with your significant other. When the times are good, they are good, but when they're bad, it's like something your wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. But would you want to get rid of all the memories even after the good times stopped?

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a guy named Joel falls in love with a girl named Clementine. Eventually though they split up and when Joel learns that Clementine has undergone a memory erasing procedure, so she doesn’t remember him or their relationship, he decides to do the same. But during the process, he realizes that he wants to keep his memories of Clementine and attempts to stop the procedure.

Jim Carrey’s performance as Joel, a self-doubting introvert, was human and terrific. It is such a switch from the way he usually acts that it elevated the entire film. He had great chemistry with Kate Winslet (who gave a good performance as the free spirited Clementine), and the rest of the cast was solid. The originality of the story along with the dialogue was another strong aspect of the film and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (who scripted Adaptation and Being John Malkovich) deserves all the accolades he gets for this screenplay. Michel Gondry’s direction was top notch as he takes us into Joel’s mind and then proceeded to literally rip away at his memories using a myriad of special effects and photographic tricks. The best aspect of the film however had to be that it was a compelling love story. Not ripe with the sickly sweetness you would see in a Meg Ryan romantic comedy, this film gave you a picture of love, the good and bad parts, and made you realize that all those experiences you’ve had in dealing with it, makes you the person you are and to take them away would turn you into something less than a human being.
Grade: A