Not a whole lot out this week, which is fine by me, because I don’t have time to catch up on anything. If you’re heading to the video store this week though, skip the biggest release of the week, and either catch up with one of the year’s best indies, or use the time instead to catch up on something worthwhile.
Crank 2: High Voltage – no stars – 2009’s worst film so far is this incoherent, misogynistic, racist, homophobic action film with Jason Statham, who has to keep shocking himself with electricity to keep his artificial heart going. Statham has never had very good taste in movies, and the Crank series is the absolute bottom of the barrel. I have nothing else to add to my original review, found here: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/04/crank-high-voltage-no-stars-directed-by.html
Goodbye Solo *** ½ - Rahim Bahrani’s third film is probably his best yet. A tender stor
y of an immigrant cab driver, who dreams of working for an airline, and his strange friendship with an older man, who just wants to be left alone. We think we know where the movie is going, but it constantly surprises us. This is a movie about real people, not just pawns in a screenwriter’s game. One of the best films from early 2009. My original review can be found here: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-goodbye-solo.html
Older Movies
Homicide (1991) **** - One of David Mamet’s very best films as a writer/director (really only House of Games is on the same level as this one). This is one of the best police procedurals of the 1990s, with Joe Mantegna as an apathetic Jewish cop assigned to the murder of a Jewish woman who was gunned down in her store in an almost all black neighborhood. As the plot unfolds, Mantegna uncovers the existence of a Zionist organization operating in New York City. Mamet’s typical rapid fire dialogue is on full display here (a scene where Bobby unleashes a series of profane, anti-Semitic remarks ranks among the best things Mamet has ever written), and as played by Mantegna, William H. Macy and the rest of the great cast, this is one of those forgotten great films that deserves to be rediscovered. Hopefully this Criterion release will do the trick.
Crank 2: High Voltage – no stars – 2009’s worst film so far is this incoherent, misogynistic, racist, homophobic action film with Jason Statham, who has to keep shocking himself with electricity to keep his artificial heart going. Statham has never had very good taste in movies, and the Crank series is the absolute bottom of the barrel. I have nothing else to add to my original review, found here: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/04/crank-high-voltage-no-stars-directed-by.htmlGoodbye Solo *** ½ - Rahim Bahrani’s third film is probably his best yet. A tender stor
y of an immigrant cab driver, who dreams of working for an airline, and his strange friendship with an older man, who just wants to be left alone. We think we know where the movie is going, but it constantly surprises us. This is a movie about real people, not just pawns in a screenwriter’s game. One of the best films from early 2009. My original review can be found here: http://davesmoviesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/movie-review-goodbye-solo.htmlOlder Movies
Homicide (1991) **** - One of David Mamet’s very best films as a writer/director (really only House of Games is on the same level as this one). This is one of the best police procedurals of the 1990s, with Joe Mantegna as an apathetic Jewish cop assigned to the murder of a Jewish woman who was gunned down in her store in an almost all black neighborhood. As the plot unfolds, Mantegna uncovers the existence of a Zionist organization operating in New York City. Mamet’s typical rapid fire dialogue is on full display here (a scene where Bobby unleashes a series of profane, anti-Semitic remarks ranks among the best things Mamet has ever written), and as played by Mantegna, William H. Macy and the rest of the great cast, this is one of those forgotten great films that deserves to be rediscovered. Hopefully this Criterion release will do the trick.
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