Ebert's review of Phantom. I rarely laugh outloud at reviews.
[link]
I was impressed by the rooftop scenes, with Paris as a backdrop in the snow. The scarlet of the Phantom's cape acts like a bloodstain against the monochrome cityscape and Christine's pale skin, and she rises to an occasion her rival lovers have not earned. She responds to more genuine tragedy than the film provides for her. She has feelings her character must generate from within, and she is so emotionally tortured and romantically torn that both Raoul and the Phantom should ask themselves if there is another man.
and
This is such a fabulous production that by recasting two of the three leads and adding some better songs it could have been, well, great.
I like the first three quite a bit -- and they're tagline material from start to end -- Douglas Adams had a very small turning circle. If he's being evocative you can pretty much bet he's about to smash you in the face with a context-shifting joke.
Okay, if he's starting a sentence, you can be pretty sure he's about to do that too.
Bale, Batman
Okay, that picture -- that IS Batman. THAT is my RL, 3-dimensional image of The Bat. It's freaking PERFECT.
You all know that the TV show that was done of Hitchiker's... (and, whatever else it might not have done right, the actor playing Arthur Dent was perfection - the issues I have with the rest I just think of as an homage to Dr.Who and let it go) is available on DVD, right?
Alas, a bad movie:
White Noise
. Save yourselves. Don't go. It was like they hired three writers to each do a script based loosely around a cool, spooky concept and then they filmed parts of each one and stuck them together. It was not scary, and it made no sense. I'm disappointed; I wanted to be scared. What a waste of a good idea.
Oh, duh. Missed the "tv" in there. Too much skimming. No biscuit.
What a waste of a good idea.
Was it a good idea? It seemed like a cheap knockoff of
The Ring
and
The Sixth Sense.
The idea being the EVP stuff. Which seems like a good idea for a horror movie to me because it freaks me way the hell out.
I couldn't say it was even a cheap knockoff of either of those movies. It brought neither to mind.
Huh. I've just found a movie I had to turn off before the halfway point.
Elf.
I know it got decent reviews, and a lot of people liked it, but man... it was PAINFUL.
Now I have to find something else to watch.
