Waiting for "Superman"

2010 Leftovers Marathon, part 13 of 13

Data
Title: Waiting for "Superman"
Year: 2010
Length: 111 minutes
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Writers: Davis Guggenheim, Billy Kimball
Starring: Geoffrey Canada
With: Michelle Rhee, Bill Strickland, Randi Weingarten
Music: Christophe Beck (mostly non-original music)
Cinematography: Robert Richman, Erich Roland
Editing: Jay Cassidy, Greg Finton, Kim Roberts
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a couple days ago
Synopsis: a look at the public school system, and some families trying to cope with it

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting: n/a
Music:
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, ). Basically, it says, "Here's what's wrong with schools, here's why, and here's why nobody can ever do anything about it." Um... great. Then why did you make a documentary? It at least tries to provide a more personal perspective on things, which makes it watchable. But it has this tone of "let's get up and fix this mess, people!" while a the same time systematically demonstrating that any significant reform is impossible. I don't get it.
Objective Rating (Average):

Unstoppable

2010 Leftovers Marathon, part 12 of 13

Data
Title: Unstoppable
Year: 2010
Length: 98 minutes
Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Mark Bomback
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine
With: Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Dunn, Kevin Corrigan, Kevin Chapman, Lew Temple
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams (and non-original music)
Cinematography: Ben Seresin
Editing: Robert Duffy, Chris Lebenzon
Oscars: nominated for Best Sound Editing
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: a runaway train is... unstoppable

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music: Out of context, it would be absolutely terrible music, but it works.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, ). How is this movie good? I'd like to think it was made on a dare. Someone took the most idiotic, cliche-ridden, disaster of a script they could find, and challenged the director to make a good movie out of it. (Sadly, that would explain how most of Fox's movies get made.) And somehow they pulled it off. What the hey.
Objective Rating (Average):

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

2010 Leftovers Marathon, part 11 of 13

Data
Title: Loong Boonmee raleuk chat
Year: 2010 (Thailand); 2011 (US)
Length: 114 minutes
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Writer: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring: Thanapat Saisaymar, Jenjira Pongpas
With: Sakda Kaewbuadee, Natthakarn Aphaiwonk, Geerasak Kulhong
Music: ? (can't find info online)
Cinematography: Yukontorn Mingmongkon, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
Editing: Lee Chatametikool
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: a dying farmer is visited by spirits

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing: It's painfully slow in a way that made me want to throw things at the TV. But if it were an otherwise less frustrating movie, its peculiar pacing could have been interesting.
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible, ). It starts out very promisingly. As it goes, it gradually makes less sense, while simultaneously becoming less interesting. By the end, I felt like I had just watched someone's home video remake of Mulholland Dr. I watched a bit of the interview with the director included on the DVD, hoping for some sort of explanation or contextualization, but there is none to be had; it seems he's either incompetent, or just doesn't care about any of the things that I think are important to good film-making.
Objective Rating (Average):

Shutter Island

2010 Leftovers Marathon, part 10 of 13

Data
Title: Shutter Island
Year: 2010
Length: 138 minutes
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Laeta Kalogridis, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio
With: Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, Ted Levine, John Carroll Lynch, Elias Koteas, Max von Sydow
Music: non-original music
Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: a US Marshall investigates an isolated institute for the criminally insane

My reaction
Concept:
Story: I'm not sure if Scorsese gives it away or if it was the trailers, but five minutes into the movie, I knew how it was going to end. This story does not work if you see the twist coming. And, contrariwise, if you don't see the twist coming, the rest of the movie would probably seem all the more tedious and cliche-ridden.
Characters:
Dialog: Some is great, some is terrible.
Pacing:
Cinematography: It tries very hard, and often ends up looking like crap.
Special effects/design: CG does not replace locations, people. Not unless you're making a cartoon.
Acting:
Music: Martin Scorsese Presents The Twentieth Century. A bit too heavy-handed, and its variety is jarring enough that it took me out of the story a few times (not that I mind being taken out of this crappy story). But it's such good music, I've still got to give full points here.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). It's like he made a huge list of things he liked in other movies, and just strung them together. I would have given it just a 5/10, but the song over the closing credits is good enough to make the other two+ hours worth sitting through.
Objective Rating (Average):

Inside Job

2010 Leftovers Marathon, part 9 of 13

Data
Title: Inside Job
Year: 2010
Length: 108 minutes
Director: Charles Ferguson
Writers: Chad Beck, Adam Bolt, Charles Ferguson
Starring: Matt Damon
Music: Alex Heffes (and non-original music)
Cinematography: Svetlana Cvetko, Kalyanee Mam
Editing: Chad Beck, Adam Bolt
Oscars: won for Best Documentary Feature
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: how the 2008 economic collapse happened

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting: n/a
Music:
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, ). It seems like documentary Oscars are only given out for importance of subject matter, with no regard for the quality of the film. Two hours of talking heads, discussing economics, all with the purpose of telling a story that everyone (who cares enough to watch the movie) already knows anyway. So boring. And shameless. If you're out to make some of the most evil people alive look bad, you really should not need to resort to cheap shots (like cutting away from interviewees before they have a chance to respond to your calling them liars). Maybe all the movie critics that gave it glowing reviews have never heard of NPR, where you get the exact same stuff (minus the pseudo-journalistic bullshit) pretty much every day for the last three years.
Objective Rating (Average):