Change Your Image
edlk
Reviews
The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan (2004)
Bunkum...
...and not even remotely clever bunkum. "Raven5" my hat. Inferior filmmaking, but very nice camera-work, which amounts to nothing of substance. Three hours (with commercials, including for "The Village")
that could/should have been whittled down to a tight 90 minutes that still would have managed the joke but with some edge to it. A great conning opportunity missed. A self-indulgent Blair-Witch wannabe.
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
anachronistic
Beautiful to look at, otherwise this depiction of 1950s life is a fantasy...and an airheaded, cliched one to boot. Language and behavior are 90s/millennial, not the 50s. (Just a small example: "disrespect" would never have been used as a verb in the 1950s -- not that it should be used so now either, but that's another issue.) If one's going to do a period piece (essentially a costume drama), it would be nice to have some knowledge about the history and lives of the period. Rent "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "The Group" instead if you want inside info on girls'/women's education -- on opposite ends of the quality drama spectrum but both very daring in their own rights. Mona Lisa Smile is not daring. But it is very pretty to look at.
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
anachronistic
Beautiful to look at, otherwise this depiction of 1950s life is a fantasy...and an airheaded, cliched one to boot. Language and behavior are 90s/millennial, not the 50s. (Just a small example: "disrespect" would never have been used as a verb in the 1950s -- not that it should be used so now either, but that's another issue.) If one's going to do a period piece (essentially a costume drama), it would be nice to have some knowledge about the history and lives of the period. Rent "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "The Group" instead if you want inside info on girls'/women's education -- on opposite ends of the quality drama spectrum but both very daring in their own rights. Mona Lisa Smile is not daring. But it is very pretty to look at.
Matchstick Men (2003)
okay but...
"Matchstick Men" is a pretty good con initially, but if you want to see a truly exceptional film about con artistry, amorality, and parent-child conundrums then rent the perpetually excellent "Paper Moon" and ruminate upon the two....