Thursday, August 30, 2007
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer runs a hellish 2+ hours. Two hours of watching a wan, skinny young man planning and executing women so he can capture their scent in a jar. I’m not kidding about this.
This 2006 direct-to-video project features Alan Rickman, who is completely wasted in a small role, and Dustin Hoffman wrestling with a dodgy Italian accent. The film has no suspense, but does treat us to long boring stretches of watching the lead actor peer uncharismatically into the camera. I didn’t read the book, but I have to think that it was better than this snooze fest. Avoid at all costs even if you like Alan Rickman as much as I do (a lot). This just isn’t worth it.
You don’t have to be a Pixar fan to love Ratatouille, a charming comedy from writer/director Brad Bird. Of course the animation is excellent, but the voice actors bring to life the story of a Parisian rat who dreams of becoming a great chef.
Along the way, our hero confronts the opposition of his family and the human aversion to rats in the kitchen. It all unfolds delightfully with comedy arising from character as much as situation.
A particular stand-out is Peter O’Toole as food critic Anton Ego, perhaps the most fearsome critic in cinema history. Take the kids to Ratatouille, and, if you don’t have kids, take yourself.
The Host is a Korean horror/monster film featuring a creature that looks like sushi gone wrong. The movie shifts in tone from a satire pointed at the U.S. government to slapstick involving the central characters: a dysfunctional family trying desperately to outsmart the fishy menace terrorizing its city.
This is a terrifically entertaining and genuinely suspenseful film, despite its goofy monster. There were dark elements that would not have been acceptable in a formulaic Hollywood film. This is fearless film-making that deserves a wider audience. Available on DVD now.
Hot Fuzz is a hilarious satire of “super cop” films made by the filmmakers who brought us Shaun Of The Dead. Fresh, funny and wholly original, it surpassed my very high expectations.
The story follows the dismissal of a gung ho cop played by Simon Pegg who gets transferred from his London post to a small village for being just a little too intense. But the idyllic village is not all that it seems to be. Wonderful details abound, including the lead character’s emotional attachment to his potted plant.
The film is chock-a-block with great English actors in small and large roles: Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Steve Coogan and Timothy Dalton all make appearances. It’s a special delight for Anglophiles, but you don’t have to be one to find this entertaining.
Two Kinks songs from their Village Green Preservation Society album are featured, which made me especially happy. (More on that madness in another post.) Here’s a YouTube video of that title song.
See this film and laugh. It’s good for you.
