Comic books galore:
May started out with watching some overdue comic book movies.
1) Blade 3: Rating 4/10
I really enjoyed the first Blade movie. The second one was ok, with some interesting stuff. But the third one is the worst of the lot by a long shot. There is nothing worthwhile in this movie and it is a complete waste of time. The plot and characters are a hash of the first 2 movies with nothing new added. This time Dracula is around to challenge Blade. It seems that the pure blood of Dracula is needed in the evil Vampires plan for dominating Earth. Yawn. Ryan Reynolds character tries to add humour (in a manner similar to certain Jason Lee roles) but instead of making the movie enjoyable, those quirky lines are just annoying.
2) Spider Man: Rating 8/10
Believe it or not, I had not seen Spider Man until now. The trailers led me to believe it was passable. I am glad to find out that I was wrong, well mostly. The movie is indeed enjoyable with the only negative aspects being Kristen Dunst (wrongly cast and poorly acted) and the fake costume/setup of the Green Goblin. Other than that, the movie is not bad at all. Some scenes (like Spider Man’s wrestling stunts and tracking down uncle Ben’s killer) are very true to the comic book.
3) Spider Man 2: Rating 10/10
This is indeed a very good movie. For once, the critics got it right. Dr. Octopus is played brilliantly by Alfred Molina and Spidey’s inner conflict is perfectly conveyed in the movie. Once again, the only weakness in the movie with Kristen Dunst but other than that, this is a well scripted and directed movie. One important note: one of the screen writers of the movie was Michael Chabon (author of Wonder Boys). No wonder some of the scenes were so fresh and well written.
And now for some of the non comic book movies!
4) Why has Bodhi Dharma left for the East (1989 movie directed by Yong-Kyun Bae).
I can imagine when this movie was released, it would have appealed to people for the simple reason that there were not many movies like this out there. But now, having seen such movies as ‘The Cup’, ‘Samsara’ and ‘Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter..and Spring’, I found Bodhi Dharma not interesting at all. In fact, there was nothing new that these other movies had not covered in some aspect or the other.
5) That Obscure Object of Desire (1977 movie directed by Luis Bunuel): Rating 7.5/10
This is probably one of the more interesting movies I have seen in a while. Bunuel used a tactic not seen in movies. He used two actresses for the same role of Conchita, switching the two women based on the mode of the role. If he wanted to portray the woman with some French dignity and coldness, he used Carole Bouquet. And if instead he wanted to highlight the woman’s fiery Spanish roots, he used Angela Molina. At first you are confused but once you catch on, you can predict which actresses will appear in which scene. Also, Bunuel tucks away the topic of terrorism in the background and bringing it in the forefront on certain occasions. It is another tactic done very well. Now, the reason I didn’t fall head over heels over this movie was that I didn’t find it completely engaging. It is still worth a watch though.
