The Ghost Writer (2010)

3/5

Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer is an exceedingly well-made thriller of the caliber that I have come to expect from Polanski, despite the flops he's made both recently and in the past. The plot follows a new ghost writer (McGregor) who was hired to help the former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Brosnan) write his memoirs. The movie sets the stage quickly and gets more mysterious even quicker. The previous ghost writer died under curious circumstances, the new ghost writer was hired as fast as possible for a huge profit, and Lang just got accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for aiding the CIA in torturing terrorist suspects.

In terms of directing, this movie is superb. It is Polanski at his best. The camerawork, the editing, and the acting are all phenomenal. They work in synchrony to build tension out of nothing. I just wish Polanski had better source material to work with. It's unfortunate that there is such a disjoint between the quality of Polanski's work and the quality of the plot itself. I didn't appreciate the story that much; it seemed a bit simplistic and unimaginative. The pieces just don't fit together particularly well, despite everything tying up in a neat little package in the end. I don't know what quality it is about the piece, but I left the theater feeling a little dissatisfied. Still, I would advise you watch it if you found the trailer interesting. You may not have the same qualms I do about the film. If that's the case, you will love this movie.

Note: it seemed as if the movie was edited for language (dubbed over, specifically) so that it could be released as a PG-13 movie. I suppose they did it to try to make more money, but the movie wasn't publicized well enough and it didn't play in enough theaters to make it a smart decision. And it just wasn't done in a particularly professional manner. Bad move, distributors, bad move.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139328/

Sex and the City (2008)

3/5

Sex and the City tells the story of four NY friends and their trials and tribulations with love. Carrie (Parker) is going out with Mr. Big (Noth) and, after finding the perfect apartment to live in together, they decide to get engaged (in an extremely awkward, business-like exchange). However, on the day of their wedding, he gets cold feet and cannot manage to get out of the car and join her down the aisle. As you can imagine, she becomes quite distraught and never wants to speak with him again. The rest of the movie focuses on bringing her spirits up and enjoying time with her best friends Samantha (Cattrall), Miranda (Nixon), and Charlotte (Davis) as they live their extravagant lifestyles filled with expensive shoes, purses, and jewelry.

All the technical aspects of the movie are competent. As for the story, it's fairly predictable but entertaining throughout, even for guys. There is also a fair amount of nudity and sex, which I was not expecting (even though I should have been, considering it was HBO). The writing does a good job of letting you enjoy the movie even if you haven't seen the series. The characters are likable enough, although their seemingly excessive wealth may make you unreceptive to their plight. All in all it was a funny movie with the requisite amount of conflict and resolution to keep you engaged for its 2.5 hour runtime. (And I'm told the fashion is pretty impressive as well.)

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000774/

Big Touble in Little China (1986)

2/5

John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China is a popcorn flick with non-stop action and cheesy acting. The plot follows truck driver Jack Burton (Russell) and Chinese gambler Wang (Dun). Burton falls in love with lawyer Gracie Law (Cattrall) and Wang is set to marry Miao Yin (Pai). When Miao Yin gets kidnapped by a gang and brought to Lo Pan (Hong), an ancient spirit who wants to marry her in order to become flesh and blood again, the other three set off to rescue her.

The story is unnecessarily convoluted and bites off more than it can chew. With every explanation of some supernatural event comes more questions and loose ends. In fact, it's not even worth listening to their explanations, because it doesn't affect the movie in any way, shape, or form. The problem is that it spends over 30 minutes trying and trying and trying to explain everything, which ends up being 30 minutes of wasted time. Even if they weren't wasted on dialogue, however, those 30 minutes would be wasted on the same ludicrous action, horrendous special effects, and hollow acting that fill up the other 60 minutes. The way Kurt Russell speaks reminds me of Private Joker's fake John Wayne parody in Full Metal Jacket. Pretty much nothing about this movie is good. But at least it's fast-paced crap. It isn't mind-numbingly boring or too terribly offensive to my senses. Still, avoid it if you can.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090728/