I watch a film where Jessica Biel takes her top off, and not even that could make me like it!
Only a few movies this week, but I had a busy week, lots of hiking, camping, and getting married…
The Watcher (2000, Joe Charbanic, United States Of America) **
Oppressively dull and banal, The Watcher refused to fucking end. It’s only an hour and a half but it feels like it’s a three hour plus film, that’s how god damn morose and overbearing it is. I have no idea what anyone was doing in this movie, a bunch of people say stuff, none of it matters, it looks incredibly cheap, nor does it have anything to say. The actors sleepwalk through their parts and I’m left wondering why I even bothered to care about finishing this movie. I should have just let the corrupted disc be the end of it, but no, I had to complete the film, I only had ten minutes to go. What a damn waste of my time.
Shrek (2001, Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson, United States Of America) ***
I had a good time with Shrek, but despite liking it I can’t see why this caught the public’s fancy so much. The animation is a bit too clean and smooth giving the film an overly artificial look. There were too many pop culture references for my liking, but Shrek overcame those with many of its fairy tale moments and a story that was easy to latch on to. It’s not jaw dropping cinema, or one of the greatest animated movies ever, but Shrek is a fine movie to have a good time with.
Shrek In The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001, Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson, United States Of America) ***
A two minute short that followed Shrek, this was cute but not much more. Some catchy tunes, with fairy tale characters singing them and having a good time. I liked Shrek In The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party, but that’s the most I can offer anyone.
Powder Blue (2009, Timothy Linh Bui, United States Of America) *
I’ve grown sick and tired of the type of indie movie that is Powder Blue. Big name actors, or at least actors who have made some name for themselves or have some credibility, taking roles they think are risky. But, they aren’t risky, they involve a lot of shouting or a lot of mumbling in place of actually becoming a character. Powder Blue is precious, so god damn precious, and every one of its themes is thrown at the viewer like a missile. Powder Blue is all over the place, because more characters and more storylines, that intersect in some way, equals a better picture in the world of the precious indie drama. Save me from all this crap, please indie cinema, stop it with all this preciously quirky bullshit, you’re not fooling anyone.
The Bourne Supremacy (2004, Paul Greengrass, Germany/United States Of America) ***
I’m not fond of the recent turn in action films towards editing overriding everything. It’s a large component of Michael Bay’s work, but he also pulls back and goes for something larger, more open. I knew I couldn’t blame him for the style of edited action where the camera is always moving, a Bay specialty I know, and the world is closed off and each frame is filmed tight and close. Based on its popularity as a franchise and my experience with The Bourne Supremacy I feel confident blaming Paul Greengrass and this franchise for the highly edited type of action film that I am not a huge fan of. In the hands of a better action director The Bourne Supremacy could have been a great movie, but Greengrass holds it back from ever reaching beyond being just good. Admittedly a script that is a retread from the first as well as obvious in its many attempted turns also has something to do with my lackluster reception to The Bourne Supremacy. Still, I expected more than just good from a film that many tout as an action masterpiece, but that’s all The Bourne Supremacy could give me.
Wrap-Up:
Not a good week for movies, I mean sure I watched a few good movies but the movie of the week should be more than merely good. The Bourne Supremacy takes home said honor for being the best movie I watched this week, but I was really disappointed in the style of a film that could have been great. Hopefully next week will bring more along the lines of greatness, cause I’d like some of that.
Cheers,
Bill
Bill's Movie Emporium 
I agree with you that “Powder Blue” is not a good movie. I found it to be extremely heavy-handed and trying to be one of those awful hyperlink movies that is being made nowadays. It’s a shame that it’s Patrick Swayze’s final movie. At least a nude Jessica Biel made it less painful to watch.
I didn’t even realize that was Swayze’s last movie, that is a real shame…
I’ll say this….the sort of shaky cam used in Bourne’s 2 and 3 never bother me, and if filmmakers decide that it is simply that technique which allows those films to succeed on the level they do for me and for a lot of people then I won’t blame Greengrass for that. If people looked at the editing, the timing, the shot composition of the Bourne films, and tried to instead recreate those techniques, then there would be a hell of a lot of really good action films being released.
I disagree Noke, because the things you just stressed as great in the Bourne films (can’t speak on Ultimatum yet) didn’t do much for me. The editing in Supremacy in particular came across very flat to me. I understand that it worked for you and a lot of others, but so far I’ve found the editing and shot composition of the action in the Bourne series to not measure up to the ideas behind the action and to be far inferior to the action provided by other directors like Cameron and Mann.
Haha, boy The Watcher sounds like shit. But hey, another Ernie Hudson movie! Awesome. I’m assuming that’s where the 2 stars came from. EH is always worth at least that much 🙂
The Watcher is professionally made and it did feature the Hud, and that’s where you get your 2 stars from, otherwise it is a big pile of shit. 🙂