Eastwood has been criticized for overhumanizing the Japanese soldiers. While a couple of the guys were extremely good-natured, I like to believe that people can be patriotic and fair-minded. A lot of the important drama was how these guys interacted with the more dogmatic, suicide-culture Japanese soldiers. Eastwood chose a really rich topic and did a good job at relating the story.
Don’t watch this movie if you have issues with violence. This is no Apocolypto, but when he does go gory, it is intense. I know one person who reportedly watched half the movie with her hand over her eyes.
This was a tense film about a real life FBI traitor. I have yet to research how accurate the story is, but my curiosity has been piqued. I feel like all of the actors do a good job and the story feels very real overall. I think Phillipe and Cooper did good jobs. While it is a well done film, I would not be thrilled to watch it again. I think I don’t get too pumped about this stuff, even though I like the historical context.
I am really interested in Ali’s story and I think that Will Smith did a pretty good job here. In fact, the acting pretty good all around. Jaime Foxx and Jon Voight add a lot in there roles. I found the storytelling to be a little annoying. They really made us work to see the historical context surrounding everything. We see a man shot who I assume is MLK and get no explanation? In some ways, this is nice because it forces the viewer to pay close attention - but it also seems wierd to just show that they know about the caziness of the 60’s and not depict reactions. Mostly, I like that Mann lets us come to our own conclusions about what is going on in Ali’s head, but maybe he didn’t have to hold the shots of his contemplating expression quite so long.
The fight scenes were for the most part enjoyable, but mostly they make me want to find some old film. I was a little surprised at the depiction of Ali’s corner during the Foreman fight. It seems like they should have known what Ali’s strategy was. I doubt he came up with it spontaneously. After watching I did some wikipediaing and read some interesting stuff about the in fight strategies which wasn’t included for obvious reasons.
The story of how a plucky New Zealander breaks the landspeed record with a shoestring budget, guts and plucky Kiwi charm. Anthony Hopkins is enjoyable to watch and its nice to not have to wonder if things are going to work out. The only tension is whether his heart condition is going to kill him as he breaks the record. Other than that, we just kind or ride along on the nice guy finishes first story. The entertaining parts were watching the old man do crazy stuff.
This movie is known for its big car chase scene. Steve McQueen chases down a couple of hoods in his Gone in 60 Secondsesque Shelby Mustang. The chase doesn’t stack up that well to modern standards, but I enjoyed watching the cars fly around corners and the sounds of the engines. And how cool is Steve McQueen?! Who knew that black turtlenecks could look tough on a guy? In addition to the above mentioned qualities, this movie also features a somewhat clever cops and robbers plot. The overall honest cop and sleezy politicians angle is a bit tired, but they didn’t spend a lot of time on it. There is also a somewhat goofy scene where Bullit’s girlfriend gets mad at him for being desensitized by his violent lifestyle.
I liked the first one better. I did not particularly enjoy all the back story and explanation. Volume one was more about being a visual feast, which for the most part I enjoyed. While I liked watching the woman scorned killing her way through her shit list, it turns out that I don’t particularly care why she is so angry. I like David Carradine, even if he did keep Bruce Lee out of Kung Fu. And I did enjoy the Good Bill/Bad Bill tension. The part that I may have liked the most was when she ripped out the other girls eye. What does that say about me?
