Review Update

I’ve heard a lot of rave reviews about The Squid and the Whale, and I was psyched to finally catch a screening over the weekend. Unfortunately, Noah Baumbach (Kicking and Screaming, the non-Will Ferrell version) falls a bit short with this dramedy about family dysfunction. Perhaps my I walked away from the film with little because I fail to empathize with a family so messed up. However, if that were the reason, I wouldn’t love American Beauty so much. The film’s script about high brow scholar parents (Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney) going through a divorce, and their personalities affecting their two sons is sharp at times. Daniels is especially on the mark as a cheap skate PhD that thinks anyone without a doctorate is a “philistine”. However, it is the direction that fails. I expected various moments of the picture to be hard-hitting, but the awkward, abrupt cuts prevent this from happening. At times, I thought during the film that Baumbach’s direction was strikingly similar to Wes Anderson. Guess who pops up in the closing credits as a producer? Coincidence? Grade: C+

Another mediocre flick on the market is Wolf Creek. The Australian horror flick took Sundance by storm and was hailed as Australia’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I am not sure if I would go so far to say that. At times, the indie flick has a terrific gritty feel with some well-chosen music. Plus, Australian actor John Jarrett is wicked at times as the sadistic villain. The problem is that it goes for the “watch as we unmercifully torture people” angle and somehow manages to not scare. It just makes me wish the movie is over. Another film I saw this year, The Devil’s Rejects, was just as unmerciful, but at least it had interesting characters and an original style. Wolf Creek is best left for video. Grade: C