6 October 2004
- Once upon a time in Mexico: I think I liked this. Tracking down the rest of Rodriguez's movies (at least the Mariachi ones) seems like a pretty good idea now.
- Bad taste: It's a good thing that I had absolutely no expectations going into this film, because it could not have met any of them any possible way. I was neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed, but entirely un-whelmed. The film's impressive for a student/independent film and the special effects show a lot of effort and ingenuity, but there was far too much that didn't grab me and far too little that did. I will agree with prevailing opinion that this is incredibly disgusting. That's about the only thing that stands out about it. The writing's unique but unoriginal, and I don't want to say anything more about the film. If you want to see it, you likely already have.
- Station agent: I added this to my list a while back and forgot why I'd done it. That in itself is unremarkable, and in fact the purpose of such a long list, more or less. What was interesting is that my Netflix ratings (going back several years and thousands of movies) also recommended that I see this DVD, so I picked it up from the library (I have bigger plans for my Netflix queue, after all). It was good, and utterly unexpected. I might even call it touching, in that New Jersey nutjob sort of way.
- Weird science and Short circuit: These films are classics in one way or another, though much of them hasn't aged very well. They aren't nearly as different as they might seem, either, as both involve inanimate objects and computers coming to life by way of technological expertise and lightning. Both have major characters with prominent accents. Both have a pair of geeks who through the course of the film grow and learn to be more extroverted (and better drivers). There isn't much else to say about these two either, as most people know enough already.
- Gattaca: I really like this movie, though I cannot fully explain why. It's slow of pace, dull of color, heavy of hand and dry of subject matter (eugenics, even), yet I find it very, very interesting. The leads (a young Jude Law, Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, with not-so-young Ernest Borgnine and Xander Berkeley) shoulder the weight of some of Andrew Niccol's pessimism and misanthropy better than lesser actors would likely have. He wrote it to be a smart movie, and it succeeds well in that both with content and presentation. The look of the film is artfully timeless, contrasting clean, sleek architecture with the great and stylish retro cars such as the always classy Studebaker Avanti and the future-movie-staple Citroen DS. I did a cursory search of the imdb to find other 1997 future movies that haven't aged as well but couldn't find too many at all, let alone ones with untimely production design. Time, it would see, will tell.
- Sealab 2021: I'm not entirely familiar with the source material (some sort of mini-cartoon called Sealab 2020 (get it? They added 1 to the year, ha ha ha), and I'm not sure I'm completely 'in' on the joke, but I did find myself laughing at this Cartoon Network/AdultSwim hit on a couple occasions. I spent as much time scratching my head, though, and as such cannot say that I really liked watching this (any more than the Aqua Teens). This is anarchic and subversive, but it needs to have something more too or it comes across as just mean spirited and heartless. Just like most of the characters in this.
- Brainscan: This is quite possibly the worst horror movie I've ever seen. It is certainly among the worst movies, period, that I've ever seen. Edward Furlong deserves better... or at least he does now.
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