These are two examples of movies that offer an inherent promise
of a good movie but don't deliver. I had the feeling that I missed something after watching these films, but after thinking about it for a few days, I realized
there was nothing there to miss. Both these movies are competent and hollow.
Their shared attribute is the wonderful performances of the
two leading men, George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
These two are fine actors who have the ability to underplay a role while packing it with power and authenticity. I
believe every word of Matt King (George Clooney) and Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and was able to go beyond the
celerity status of each actor to enjoy the character they created. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough substance
in either character for me to care about them or allow me to enter their world.
The camera clings to both of these actors like a desperate wannabe friend. In both cases they were surrounded by competent but nearly invisible actors. There was no power counterpart to either character to provide friction, juice or drama. It was a lead character surrounded by generic players.
The camera clings to both of these actors like a desperate wannabe friend. In both cases they were surrounded by competent but nearly invisible actors. There was no power counterpart to either character to provide friction, juice or drama. It was a lead character surrounded by generic players.
Matt King (George Clooney) has no interest in his children
and has nothing but disdain for his wife.
This is expressed in the epic voice over that starts and nearly kills
the movie. The audience is spoon fed
the entire backstory and lays out Matt King’s current situation.
Matt’s main goal in life is to track down the man his wife was
having an affair with. It doesn’t matter
that his wife is in a coma with the life support system disconnected and that she could die at any minute. Matt takes his two daughters and a friend to a different
island and spends nearly three days tracking down his wife's lover. He also does some
preliminary business regarding a multi-million dollar real estate deal.
Matt King does not care about his wife or his family. It is nearly impossible to invest or relate to
the character of Matt King. I don’t care
about him. Does he have any redeeming
qualities? No, except that Matt King is
George Clooney. And because he is George
Clooney we are supposed to think that The
Descendants is a good film. It is an
average film at best and easily forgettable.
Moneyball is based
on true events, well known to the public, which turns Moneyball’s plot into an excruciating and totally predictable exercise. What is Billy Bean’s (Brad Pitt) main goal? He wants to win more baseball games with a
limited payroll. In real life, Billy
Bean and the Oakland Athletics contributed to a shift in some of the ways
baseball was scouted, managed, and played.
If you knew nothing about baseball there would be no way of knowing this
from the movie. If you followed baseball
the movie becomes one long recount.
The given circumstances of the film tells us that one year
the Oakland Athletics lost to the New York Yankees in the playoffs and the next
year they lost to the Minnesota Twins in the playoffs. Is this really an interesting story line? Who cares? The subplot is that he sort of tries to stay in touch with his daughter who is living with his divorced wife and her new husband. The Billy Beane character is aloof, troubled, unknowable, and one-dimensional. He had no specific good qualities and no
specific bad qualities.
I expect great things from cinema. I want to be involved, touched, challenged,
and sent into a state of wonderment. I
want the emotional impact and the images to linger for weeks. I want
to question my own life and examine aspects of life that I have never thought
about before. I want to see something
and feel something that contributes to my aesthetic, intellectual, and
emotional existence. I expect nothing
less from this great art form.
No comments:
Post a Comment