The Devil Wears Prada

I guess you had to be her. I admit there's a decent story here, with plenty of elements of interest even for the unfashionable among us. But the film has issues, chief among them being its desire to have things both ways. The story is dismissive of fashion and its world, but also argues in its favor at certain key moments. When our heroine becomes more accepting of her new milieu--and even starts feeling sympathetic towards her antagonist--she is not celebrated for her growth but criticized as a sellout in run-of-the-mill dramatic conflict generation. All of which leaves the viewer...where? Who knows? Are the personal failings of those shown as antagonists worthy of condemnation, or justified by their positions in the the fashion world's hierarchy of prominence and importance? Again, who knows? That lack of a firm, determined perspective isn't fatal, but the film suffers because of it. With movies as with people: looking good matters, but the advantage can be undone by flaws in deeper concerns.

The Post

So this is what you get when an "eat your vegetables" story meets the most entertainment and emotion oriented of all movie directors. Everything in this story about the publication of the Pentagon Papers is Important with a capital 'I'--freedom of the press, checks and balances, lives on the line, etc.--but it never quite feels that way as these proceedings proceed. The storytelling is a little too paint-by-numbers; you can almost see the "CIVICS LESSON" stamp on the script pages, where certain lines are delivered less as acting and too much like an essay reading. And the efforts to build drama fail; true, we all already know (or, accounting for ignorance, should already know) the outcome of these events, but that's rarely a hurdle in the hands of a skillful storyteller. (Think Apollo 13; we knew going in they survived, but it was still a dramatic ride nevertheless.) Spielberg is not a poor storyteller, but something in the execution here is amiss, and it can't be laid upon the actors, who all acquit themselves well. Just as a salad is hardly exciting, but something you need to eat once in a while, this film is worth seeing, if only for the refresher in history--but it's not a particularly inspired piece of movie-making.

Into The Woods

My hearing must be going. Once again I've watched a movie where I couldn't hear a lot of the dialogue--in this case, in musical form--over all the background noise and orchestration. Alas, the burden of getting old. The fact that that is my concern when thinking about this film is a warning sign; it's a movie that promises much but delivers not nearly enough. I'm not sure the "wisdom" of the fairy tale rewrites is all that wise; folk wisdom gets to be folk wisdom for a reason, and you coming along with your jaded worldview does not necessarily change everything. Oh well; at least you get to spend a chunk of a couple of hours with the awesomeness that is Anna Kendrick, so that's something.

The Deer Hunter

The problem with ordinary lives is...they're ordinary. By definition, not particularly interesting. And since this movie is focused on--at least at the start--a set of quite ordinary lives...well, you see we have a problem. Sadly, ordinary lives--in fiction at least--are only redeemed in their disintegration. So it is here. The steel town characters portrayed by DeNiro, Walken, et al., are fundamentally just your average assholes. Things only get interesting when they ship off to Vietnam and life starts hitting them (almost literally) like a shot to the head. Beyond that, there's a little too much self-consciousness about being "important" in this flick--a bad trait in any movie. The reputation this film has is, in this viewer's opinion, not especially well deserved. Your mileage may vary.

Adaptation

That is a very purring Bad Cat over there; this film could have been knocked down a grade. It will not be everyone's cup of tea, and that's putting it mildly. The blurring of reality and fantasy is bound to be confusing for some, as well as off-putting. But there are redeeming features here: good performances, a script that's offbeat, intelligent and very aware, and a willingness to take risks. Try it if you're in the adventurous mood.

The Hours

I'm not impressed; guess I get to go sit in the corner for a while. Everyone else loved this one, so maybe I'm the problem. To me, the story seemed both contrived and overly convoluted; better to tell one story clearly and lucidly than to lose yourself in three intertwined tales. The weakness is almost overcome by good performances from a great cast, but it's not enough for me.

One True Thing

There's that girl again; a young Renée Zellweger plays center stage, this time with veterans Meryl Streep and William Hurt giving very capable support. A bit of a tearjerker, but we won't hold that against it.