The biggest disappointment of the year for me...I mean, yeah visually I can understand the comparisons to Malick, as it looks a lot like Days of Heaven in some parts, but so what...it has to amount to something. I haven't seen Ordet, from what I've read he sort of copies a lot from that film. It also reminds me of Bergman's trilogy a little bit and even Tarkovsky, but I don't see it as anything more than an amateur trying to mimic the greats, but failing to come up with something original let alone engaging.
A wonderful eros themed anthology that updates some of the stories in Boccacio's Decameron with strong women character's in each and directed by some of Italy's most celebrated filmmakers.
Incredible costuming and decor, and as always wonderfully interesting compositions and a traces of the montage style can still be seen, mostly through the use of multiple reaction shots.
Interesting stuff, but I disliked the director's self righteous declarations and I would have preferred it if he didn't point out all of the unique things he was doing in the film, that almost defeated the purpose to me. The third chapter was easily the best part, as it is a clear influence for Stan Brakhage's films.
Dirk Bogarde delivers an excellent performance as Gustav von Aschenbach in this fairly dull story about a composer vacationing in Venice to escape his stressful life and becoming infatuated with an adolescent boy who embodies the ideal beauty he has sought after. Visconti utilizes the slow zoom technique throughout the film in virtually every scene. Even though this was the decade most notorious for the zoom technique, I think Visconti still goes overboard, and it's truly a shame because his wide shot compositions are so incredible, but constantly butchered by distracting zooms. I honestly think I could have enjoyed this film if not for the zooming. It is strange to think one element can have such an effect, but it is so overbearing and distracting. The zooms were effective at times, particularly for Gustav's POV shot were he is fixing his gaze on the young boy. My favorite shot is a meandering POV of shot full of zooms, pans and tilts, where Gustav scans the beach patrons. Otherwise the zooms are tedious and tacky. I found this essay that reasonably argues the effectiveness of the zooming, however I still don't like it: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3768/is_199801/ai_n8776729
The Incident At Loch Ness was an incredibly entertaining, hilarious, and extremely well executed mockumentary. I thought the first 40 minutes or so seemed pretty legit, but I think the comedy registers better as things become more absurd. The premise is pretty clever, they set up jokes for later callbacks much in the same way Curb Your Enthusiasm does, and parodying Herzog's repuatation and mystique makes for great comic results, not to mention he is one of the most fascinating people to watch period.
I can't stop thinking about Ledger's performance...sounds cliché at this point, but I was completely enthralled with The Joker and I am confident it will be remembered as epic. Each time he was on screen I got an adrenaline rush. It got to the point where I was almost uninterested in Batman.
Oh and Gyllenhaal was terribly terribly annoying.
I felt that the absence and presence of music was oddly schemed. I can recall several dialogue scenes where I almost couldn't hear what the characters were saying because the music was up in the mix so loudly. Perhaps keeping the music constantly running through these scenes was a strategy to keep the audience on their toes and to mask slower scenes, but it may have been a bit too driving for my taste. Interestingly enough the music is nowhere to be found during the action-packed car chase sequence. I actually loved how it played out without the music and for a minute thought that the music track channel got muted in the theater or something; you just don't see that enough in this type of film, as music usually drives this type of action. I did however find it an odd choice given the strategy of the score throughout the rest of the film.
Batman Begins wields fantastic visuals, and the most plausible superhero story I've seen (I typically hate these kinds of movies). Nolan blends the comic book world with realism and avoids pandering for the most part. There is even some decent surface level philosophical discussion about "justice." I agree with the complaints about the fight sequences being poorly executed, but Bale's voice didn't bother me. I interpreted it as his way of both taking on another persona and throwing his voice in an attempt to intimidate criminals and disguise his identity. If only they could have avoided including the random child interaction scene which is so flagrantly abused in comic book movies.
