Magnolia (1999)

What a fascinating cast of characters. Each and every character has a back story we care about -- even the completely understated ones. (I, for one, wanted to know more about Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, a superbly, subtly acted personality.) Does the ending work, though? I'm not sure it does. It feels like it *should* mean something, but it... doesn't quite.

It's hard to deny the powerful stories told throughout the first two and a half hours, however. There's an incredibly touching moment where all the characters are singing along with a song playing on the radio. (It's much less trite than that makes it sound.) As we see each character lost in their own world, lost in their own problems and miseries, quietly singing this song, there's something very sad and poignant about that. That one scene alone would make this movie worth watching.

A great film, only an okay ending. It wasn't terrible - but it could have been so much more. 4 stars.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Well, it's not Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it's not National Treasure 2, either. It shines with the heritage of the Indiana Jones stories, willing to let Indiana show his age (it has, after all, been nearly thirty years since the last Indy installment was made), but still giving him all the heroism he had in his earlier stories. Shia LaBeouf puts in a good performance as Indiana's teenage shadow, Mutt, and even gets a few slick action sequences of his own.

The Indiana Jones saga has always been willing to play with the mystical and supernatural. Whether it's the Hebrew Ark of the Covenant melting people's faces off, or the Holy Grail that can age people super quickly, there's never been a hesitancy to jump into a realm that for most movies would send it into a sci-fi/fantasy realm. The same holds true here. From early on in the movie, it is clear that we are heading into another tale involving things humans cannot explain or understand, but somehow in Indiana's world, we're okay with it. (I had to smile, however, when Indy claims that "there's always another explanation." Really? There wasn't for the ark...) While it's not the smoothest of the series' plots, it plays fair.

The action sequences are slick, smooth, and lots of fun. I am not a fan of action sequences, but these managed to draw me in. The swordfight on top of the side-by-side cars was a highlight.

Where does this fall in the series? I liked it significantly better than the very-disappointing Temple of Doom, but this is far from being a classic. It's a well-made, fun, fairly mindless action movie that is well worth watching but probably not worth buying. 3.5 stars.

Youth Without Youth (2007)

Francis Ford Coppola and I clearly have very different ideas about meaning in movies. I have now seen three or four films by him and have been left feeling empty and confused by each one. Let me start off by saying, I am *not* a fan of The Godfather, parts one, two or three. If I worked I could admire the craft, but overall I couldn't see what it was saying or why it did why it did. Call me blind to good taste, but apparently it's a reaction that continues to be true for all Coppola movies. I next saw his short film "Life With Zoe" in the collection "New York Stories." Pleasant, but I had no idea what meaning it held. And now Youth Without Youth, whose complicated plot runs through several different possible themes before ending with a shot that made me think, "Wait... Now... wait... WHAT just happened?" I felt it lacked cohesiveness and, judging from the other comments here on Flixster, it's not just me not "getting" Coppola.

Several moments feel like they were deliberately wooden. A character falls to the ground, and it's as if she is a mechanical toy that just goes stiff and topples over. Dialogue us unbelievably stilted. Every time philosophizing is done, the whole film screeches to a halt as "deep points" are made, and then the film continues as if nothing has happened. It didn't bring me to a greater awareness of the movie, however, as it could have done - instead, it made the entire thing feel amateurish, done by a student who wants to make a "great film" in the style of the masters, and just ends up pushing together a lot of moments that could make a movie meaningful, and then releasing it, convinced it's going to go down in history as utter brilliance. Sorry, Francis. It doesn't look like anyone, including me, thinks this is the next Godfather. 2 stars.

Notre-Dame de Paris (1999)

This show was clearly hoping for the international success of Les Miserables. At least one problem, however, was that the lyrics translated into English on the cast recording are TERRIBLE. I was relieved to hear the much more beautiful French lyrics when I watched this film.

That aside, this is really a very gripping musical. Garou is less "aww, a hunchback!" than many productions. He's pretty darn ugly, with a less-than-silky-smooth voice to match it. This means that the way we connect with him is most likely much closer to the way we're supposed to - we feel bad for him, but we really don't want him to be hanging around us all that often. His song "Dieu qe le monde est injuste," which comes across as just whiny in the English recording, here is poignant - the protest of a desperate man who feels he has always been on God's bad side.

I was especially struck by Daniel Lavoie's portrayal of Frollo. Starting off as unflinchingly rigid and slowly degenerating into a a crazed man filled with lust, he is at his best when he is caught in between- in the song "Belle," he finds himself drawn to Esmeralda but maintains a safe distance, only able to bring himself to long from afar. Great performance.

The dancers are a bit much. They fill nearly every scene, filling the stage with chaos that isn't always warranted. The gimmicky stage is also unneeded. "Tu vas me detruire," with its cathedral columns spinning to crush Frollo, was just silly, awkward and totally unnecessary.

Staging aside, though, the music is compelling, the performances are fantastic, and the lyrics are much much better in French than they are in English. Worth watching if you enjoy musicals and don't mind subtitles! 4 stars.

Wings of Desire (1987)

What an incredibly beautiful movie. It succeeded in every way City of Angels failed (i.e. a LOT). It's not your typical love story -- it's not even what CoA made it, a typical love story "but, like, with angels! Get it?" It's a moving exploration of what it means to be human, what it means to be alive. In scene after scene, the angels follow the humans around, looking at them and yearning to understand what drives them. Stunning use of color and sound, and a thoroughly satisfying ending. This is, I'm sure, one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in my entire life. 4 stars.

The Lady Eve (1941)

Right from the beginning, this movie is full of great dialogue and interesting characters. There are no huge out-loud laughs, but I'm pretty sure I smiled throughout the entire film. The two main characters are a great match, and it is a pleasure watching and observing their relationship. The ending left me slightly unsatisfied -- it seemed almost unfinished, although perhaps looked at from the right perspective it is exactly what it needs to be. But that would really be my only complaint. Very well crafted movie. 3.5 stars.

Across the Universe (2007)

Plot: The music of the Beatles and the Vietnam War form the backdrop for the romance between an upper-class American girl and a poor Liverpudlian artist.

It's hard not to compare this to Moulin Rouge, another movie musical using pop songs along with creative visuals to enhance the songs. So I'm not going to try to not compare them.

Moulin Rouge was definitely better. Beatles songs actually *are* better, but much of the time it felt like they were hesitant to play much with the actual musicality of it. The visuals, sure, the visuals can be as crazy as you want-- but the music has to stay classic Beatles, at least in tone, or everyone will be angry. Well, unfortunately, that means that many of the vocal performances sound like nothing but decent American Idol performances, lacking much of the musical originality that Moulin Rouge brought to the table.

However! Visually, this works almost as well. Not every scene is pushed quite to the extreme of Moulin Rouge, but there are definitely a lot of scenes that I remember because of the stunning visual effects. My favorite was probably the bizarre twist on "I Want You," where a series of robotic soldiers put several young men through a series of tests to determine draft eligibility.

Although this review is now incredibly long, I just wanted to briefly mention a few of my other favorite moments: "With a Little Help From My Friends" becomes a rollicking, well-natured partying song that conveys a warm fuzzy sense of camaraderie. "I Am the Walrus" is a stunning psychedelic whirlwind. "Strawberry Fields Forever" takes on a dark undertone as an artist furiously struggles to portray his thoughts on canvas. And "Across the Universe" takes place in the middle of a peace-march-turned-riot, as the singer stands amidst the screaming crowd firmly vowing, "Nothing's going to change my world."

Lots of brilliance throughout...and definitely worth rewatching. But all-in-all, it was just slightly disappointing, falls *just* shy of the mark of greatness. So close, Julie Taymor. So close. 4 stars.