[Film] I'm sick, I'm watching

I am sick. Like all-coughing, all-complaining all the time sick. So I’ve been watching a lot of stuff.

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azakaban - ***

The first hour is the best HP movie yet, then it starts to fade away in terms of setting up and paying off the story. Exciting finale though.

Legend - **

Silly bad fun. Tim Curry is either supposed to represent dangerous mature male sexual energy or he’s been dressed to look like an inflamed penis.

Cube 2: Hypercube - *** ½

I actually liked that it was filled with ideas. They don’t hang together as a story – and in fact story basically gets deliberately abandoned & fractured and eaten – but it’s basically as flawed as the first one, just not as good.

Van Helsing - ** ½

Starts fantastically, ends in a mess. I could feel the slide in quality and entertainment as I was watching it.

The Forgotten - ** ½

It does everything right & Julianne Moore is pretty – but it’s just so obvious.

Lair of the White Worm - ****

Boy does this look like it’s going to be a dumb film in its first 20 minutes but it does a ballsy reveal of who its villain is, has a detailed backstory stretching back thousands of years that’s well worked out and effortlessly presented & it actually pulls of ‘that’ ending to a horror movie. If you see it, you’ll see what I mean. It is, however, a Ken Russell film.

Dark City – [no idea what to rate it]

Holds up way better the second time, but it’s paced like a trailer – there’s almost no grace notes or humanity in it; just the veneer of humanity. The trailer on the DVD is a perfect example of the post-Se7en industrial fear aesthetic. In other words, it’s really funny to watch now.

The Village - ****½
I love this film - it's so emotional, it's so well-motivated. I find it holds up on a second viewing because it's about people and why they do things, not about the plot. In fact, the reason I'm not fully engaged in the film (and why it doesn't get 5 stars) is because it falls down so badly when trying to address the plot. But that's minor to me. What's major is how masterful it is at misdirecting you to what story you're watching ... & how people so idealistic can also be (in my opinion) so evil.