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Reviews
The Artist (2011)
If you like silent films, you'll love this one; if not, probably not.
The praise is well deserved and this is the best film I've seen for a while. OSS117 is a very pleasant surprise. Berenice Bejo is exactly what she should be. In smaller parts, John Goodman mugs exceedingly well, James Cromwell is excellent and the dog is superb. If you've ever enjoyed a silent film, you'll like this one. If you don't like silent films, you won't like this one either. If you've never seen one, you probably won't like them -- most people don't -- but maybe you're one of the few.... Now, to reach the minimum length for reviews (!), I'll add that the film's use of selective silence to emphasize the tension between talkies and silents is very clever and that the happy ending is a great relief. I've always thought A Star Is Born is just too depressing to watch twice.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Thoroughly disappointing
I love the '79 TV serial and the book it was based on. I went to this expecting, given the cast and LeCarre's involvement, that it would be an interesting attempt to compress and update the original and that the noble effort would fall short. Unfortunately, this film is a disaster at every level. Not a single element rises to the level of the original, most are far worse, and the failures are stupid and unnecessary.
In the course of trimming the material to film-length, someone decided to leave out character development. Lacon, Bland, Esterhazy and Haydon are semi-dimensional ciphers and Alleline and Control are peevish wasps. What a waste! Oldman, playing Smiley, tries for reserve and manages to look petrified; the botox budget must have been enormous. I have never appreciated the expressive and nuanced performances of Alec Guiness and the rest of the original cast so much.
By all means, watch the DVD of the original and its sequel. And if this bunch ever remakes Smiley's People, stay away.
The Tree of Life (2011)
Pretentious and unsuccessful
Perhaps something happens in the last quarter of the film that redeems the whole thing. I dropped out, so I'll never know. Up to then, I thought I'd seen only 10 or 15 minutes of good film, consisting mostly of interactions between Pitt and his wife and children. There's nothing wrong with shooting for the moon and falling short. But it's hard to see that this effort ever had any chance of success and the film comes off as pretentious and dull. As an inquiry into the nature of man and his relationship to god, this can't hold a candle to Wings of Desire. Taken purely as a film about a family under stress, it can't hold a candle to The Great Santini or Ordinary People. Better luck next time to all who were involved.
Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
No character development, no dramatic tension, no story arc
Who would ever think a movie with such talented actors could go so wrong? Mrs Henderson's friend comments that women in their eighth decade are very similar to adolescents. That rings too true in this case. Mrs Henderson is boring and implausibly shallow. The sparks between her and Vivian Van Damme, played by Hoskins, are artificial and unpersuasive. None of the characters develops in any interesting way. The struggle to keep the revue open against sporadic and apparently random opposition by the Lord Chamberlain is not enough to sustain the story. The motivations of the filles de tableaux are not explored. No tension ever being created, there is none to be resolved. Ugh.