<t There
I watched the first twenty minutes of “I’m Not There,” and I was confused. This isn’t to say I didn’t like it—the cinematography is gorgeous, the film is well written. There are several beautiful moments in those first twenty minutes alone. But I still wasn’t sure what the movie was up to. I thought it was a movie about Bob Dylan, but we are introduced to a little boy, old for his age, singing the blues, a poet in an interrogation room named Arthur Rimbaud and a super star of folk named Jack Rollins. I don’t know enough about Dylan and his life to identify which character represents what part of Dylan, and the overarching story isn’t cohesive enough to make up for it, or keep me interested. If you’re into his music, you’ll probably appreciate the film more than I did. I did love the idea of making a biography by representing a person, and not by forcing their life into the mold of a story arch. And the music is utterly fantastic. Not a fan of Dylan’s voice myself, his songs were done great justice by the jazz and soul singers and Mason Jennings.
How I Won the War
This dark comedy seems like it could make World War II as fun as Hogan’s Heroes did. Central plots are the regiments’ attempts to kill their inept commander, and a sneak mission to set up an “Advanced Area Cricket Pitch” behind enemy lines. According to my research (Wikipedia), the movie has often been compared with Candide. The film is made in several styles including straight to camera, docu-drama and vignette. “How I Won the War” has not received favorable criticism, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to rank with “Saving Private Ryan” among World War Two films. John Lennon stars, and its rumored he wrote “Strawberry Fields Forever” while on set. I think the appeal of “How I Won the War” is that it’s such an oddity— a strange combination of humor and pedagogy. I’m intrigued. Go see this, and let me know what you think.
I Know Who Killed Me
This movie won the most Golden Raspberries (eight, for categories like worst actress, worst horror movie) in film history. I’m not going to lie, this makes me want to watch the movie a little more than if it had been just an average bad movie. Besides the fact that I’m still pulling for Lindsay, the plot is a “potentially interesting mystery,” (says one critic on Rotten Tomatoes, and me.) Lohan’s character, Aubrey, disappears. She is believed to be the latest victim of a serial killer who is terrorizing her quiet neighborhood. When Aubrey resurfaces, with wounds like those of the previous victims, she claims not to be Aubrey at all, but a wayward teen stripper named Dakota. The plot unfolds with lots of twists that I won’t reveal here but are definitely available to be spoiled on Wikipedia. I got sucked in reading about the movie, making me want to see the film. However, everyone has warned me: you think you want to see it, but it really is that bad.