Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Movie Bites

More six-word reviews, with stars (from 0 to 8).

Hello, Dolly: Barbara Streisand: all craft, no art.  (* * *)

Raise the Red Lantern: Confined, the mind devolves.  (******)

Slumdog Millionaire:  The structure wins out.   (*****)

The Cincinnati Kid: Steve McQueen cannot act. (* * *)

Hellboy II: So much paint.  So little color. (* *)

Small Change: Truffaut is smarter than Godard.  (* * * *)



3 comments:

Johannes said...

I like it, but I want to hear more.

My 6 word reviews:

Raise the Red Lantern:
Ancient Chinese foot massage, no thanks.

Slumdog Millionaire:
How's this trite movie so good?

Hellboy II:
So much promise, so little delivery.

JMW said...

Funny, my review of Slumdog would read:

The structure loses out. (**)

I agree with you so much about Truffaut's superiority to Godard.

I saw Cincinnati Kid not too long ago for the first time, and it stunk. But good lord, I love me some Ann-Margret.

ANCIANT said...

The sad thing is, the screenplay for the Cincinatti Kid promises so much more. (SPOILER). In it, the Kid's final defeat at the hands of Lancey occurs because Lancey himself cuts a deal with the businessman; they rig the deck against the Kid. That's why he draws the straight flush. As the Kid staggers broken from the room, he's told--that's how things work. Either eat or get eaten.

The script, written by Ring Lardner, is floating around the internet; it's worth a read. The movie, as you note JMW, is pretty lousy. Too bad too--it's exactly the kind of movie I SHOULD like. I wanted to like it, too. But I did not succeed.