Low budget plus some art house cinematography does not constitute a good movie.
Month: January 2015
Earthling (2012) 30%
As if a screenwriter worked backward from a fully-formed story, then parceled pieces of it to create viewer intrigue along the way. Unfortunately, doing that requires more exposition than was included in the film.
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) 60%
Unremarkable, yet refreshingly competent and conventional crime thriller. Scott Frank is pretty good at these.
Elephant White (2011) 20%
Looks like they just barely ran out of space to credit Jirantanin Pitakorntrakul on the promotional poster. SPOILER Man kills a multitude of pimp gangsters using a variety of guns. Also ghosts, elephants, and Kevin Bacon’s bad accent.
Elysium (2013) 60%
Wasted potential with this one, in that it took the premise of a much greater story and dumbed it down to a Charles Bronson film level…with spaceships.
Employee of the Month (2004) 20%
An alt. psychic (one that sees into the past) told me that this movie was preposterously pitched to some level of management as a “Tarantino-esque philosophical action thriller”, and also that Jenna Fischer described once how taking a bit part as a hooker in this film was “showing off her range” as an actress.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) 80%
Straightforward and without as much of an agenda as other documentaries in the same vein. A sequel might be just as enlightening, explaining the circumstances behind how Ken Lay’s assets were transferred to his family before the government could seize them, and perhaps describing how Jeff Skilling has been able to use his ill-begotten wealth to buy ten years off of his prison sentence (he pursued enough legal action that the government decided it was costing too much in opposition, and cut a deal).
The Lone Ranger (2013) 50%
Too long, too much, but otherwise pretty typical Bruckheimer.
The Little Mermaid (1989) 90%
With excellent animation, voice acting, music, and story, it is one of the better Disney films.
The Little Drummer Boy Book II (1976) 50%
As mediocre as the original Rankin/Bass stop-motion.