Review of View from the Top (2003) by Chris W — 02 Apr 2005

[b]The Grapes of Wrath (Ford, 1940): B+.

[/b]I haven't read the book, but is the story supposed to be about Tom or Momma Joat? The casting would suggest the former, but the movie itself, and the more interesting characterization would hint the latter. Mixed in with this distracting quandary is the too-convenient last chapter at the government regulated camp. If the ups and downs of life are indeed as haphazard as where your car breaks down next, then the movie's bitter indictment of the Depression doesn't taste so bad.

[b]Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954): A-.

[/b]Jimmy Stewart's saggy man breasts aside, I docked the movie a point because it shoots its wad faster a 16 year old boy watching scrambled porn. It reminded me of the clipped ending of North By Northwest, in that some of the key elements of the ending occur at a filmed/editing pace incongruous to the rest of the film. Is that the idea? Maybe, but it doesn't get [i]me[/i] off any faster, and definitely not any better.

[b]Slacker (Linklater, 1991): D.

[/b]Everything I hated about Waking Life, except without the pretty colors and Fun With Audio irony. Philosophic ruminations, while fascinating in college lecture halls and novel treatises, suck suck suck as cinematic keystones. Wait, scratch that, I've worked and played with these sorts of slackers in real life, and they're not any more interesting then either.

[b]View From the Top (Barreto, 2003): B-.

[/b]First, I'd shoot whoever was in charge of the score, because it ended up being a pastiche of Top 40 Clear Channel masturbation instead of, you know, something good. Second, the movie managed to surprise me a few times, like the choice of how Gwyneth Paltrow deals with her setbacks and, of course, the catfight (me-YOW). No matter what the expectations (I basically came for a serving of Mark Ruffalo), a movie that makes me smile is worth a passing grade. Third, and finally, kudos to the costume designer. Anyone who can make Gwyneth look like she has a rack should get an Oscar.

[b]Boys Don't Cry (Peirce, 1999): A-.

[/b]What Peirce gets wrong is how she chooses to spell her last name. What Peirce gets right is the atmospheric sense of danger from the first frame of the movie to the last. It's a bold choice, not unlike Patty Jenkins' choices in 2003's Monster, which raises the subject material to something truly cinematic. Taylor Hackford et al could learn a thing or two from these ladies. In the end, I was simply fascinated at just looking at Hilary Swank; it was like one of those holograms where under one light, she looks utterly feminine, but in another, like a runty man. That was pretty cool.