Pennies from Heaven, Battle Hymn, & The Five Obstructions

Pennies from Heaven isn't as good as The Singing Detective. The songs aren't as organic, there are too many times when the song happens, and then the characters go back directly to what they were doing before, with little new information about the plot or even their motivations. The repetition of this process, completely unnoticed in The Singing Detective begins to drag down the movie. Plus, I'm really not sure about some of the completely unnecessary special effects at the end of the fourth episode. What was up with the record in space? The occasionally extremely distracting effects from using video also detract from the performances, which, from Bob Hoskins and Cheryl Campbell at least, are outstanding. And it is weird to see Kenneth Colley do anything other than kowtow to Darth Vader. It's pretty amazing that you can tell it's him at some times, and at others that he completely hides behind that scraggly hair.

Battle Hymn is... strange, in that, the main Korean-Indian is played by a Welshwoman. And it's also fun to see Rock Hudson act straight. I just kept screaming (in my head) "HE'S GAY!!!!" Oh well. The movie itself was horribly melodramatic, which is exactly what you'd expect from Douglas Sirk. It's fairly effective melodrama, but I don't like it nearly as much as the rest of his stuff. And I'm not sure why the hell they decided to have that soldier at the beginning saying "This is a true story". He was very awkward.

The Five Obstructions is actually interesting. It is a Lars Von Trier film I don't get angry watching. Mainly because Lars admits he's an asshole. Which he is. Such an annoying guy, gets to be annoying in this as well. But at least there's Leth to make it all better, and actually have a human being at the middle of it. I also thought the first four obstructions were actually interesting movies, while the fifth, of course, just apologizes for the earlier junk. Well, the second time was sort of weak, but the first was hypnotic, the fourth was amazing, and the third was interesting. Not really something I'd watch over and over again. But it's still worth seeing, especially if you are interested in filmmaking.