Match Point, Hammett, Tokyo Godfathers, & Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War

Match Point is probably Woody's best film in years. Although I have a soft spot for Sweet and Lowdown, it's probably my favorite since Hannah and Her Sisters. It's up there with those two, Manhattan, Annie Hall, Love and Death, and Bananas as his best work. It's that good. I was really impressed with Allen as, except for the opening credits, the love for scratchily recorded old music (opera instead of his usual jazz), and a few scenes that could only have been written by him, he actually made a movie that didn't feel much like an Allen film. Scarlett was very disappointing, as she was just incredibly whiny throughout the entire film. Unfortunately, it was just Allen's frequently poor writing of women that showed throughout the entire film. Seriously, he's really just becoming a bitter old man now. I wish Ewan Bremmer had had more of a role though. He was about the only character I liked. Well, the two police officers were the only ones I liked. Everyone else was either the idle rich or the evilly ambitious not quite as rich. That's also typically Allen, and it had the apartment porn that Allen loves, as that apartment on the Thames was quite possibly the greatest apartment on the planet. I want it so much. I liked that the ending wasn't clear, although I wish it had ended in a different manner.

Hammett was Wim Wenders's version of Dashiell Hammett living through a story out of his novels. Well, it would have been had Francis Ford Coppola not refilmed most of it. And the set was very well done. I was impressed with how much porn and the like they were able to show in a PG film, and then I remembered it was made before PG-13. Damn that rating. And damn the "moral" police for going after movies like this. Why can't they just understand that they need to be involved in their kids' lives to make sure they don't see what you don't want them to see? Anyway, I just really liked it, even if it makes about as much sense as The Big Sleep. Not nearly as clear as Hammett's stuff I've read. But it's still good for people who are big fans of him.

Tokyo Godfathers was a little too Christian for me. But once the plot started moving, the movie moved past that, and I got into it. I am enjoying the fact that there are non-insane and crappy anime films. And that they're not all made by Hayao Miyazaki. This is a touching story of three homeless people all with skeletons in their closets and how they reunite a baby they find in the trash with her parents. There are some very pretty scenes, but an overall sense of everything fitting together way too well and too many coincidences detracts from the movie.

Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War was bleh. I knew everything in that already. It was the 56 minute version, not the extended one. I doubt I'll bother with that one. I think it's a movie that was pretty damn useless. If it weren't so important of an issue, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but if you want a fairly interesting version sub-hour long look at why we're in Iraq, and you don't want to read a bunch of good internet articles on it, then maybe watch this. Or just let me rant for a while, and you'd get the same information.