Journeys with George, Gun Crazy, Grace of My Heart, & The Brothers Grimm

Journeys with George is depressing. I imagine that it's the same on pretty much every political press junket, but man, why the hell were people so charmed with someone who seems to view bologna sandwiches and Cheetos as haute cuisine? Plus, ugh. I bet that the film would have been slightly better had it not been released after 9/11. Because that probably cut out quite a bit of extra stuff. There's no way that was the film as originally intended. Karl Rove is not a guy who throws snowballs and jokes about the liberal media. He's a turd blossom of evil. And man, he was so ridiculously wrong about New Hampshire. It's frustrating to see the media like this. The craptacular system we have now where the media has to suck up to the candidates in order to keep their place in the circus just leads to fluff articles, which really don't help in, say, anything. We need serious articles, and serious coverage. We need to stop the fluffing of candidates.

Gun Crazy is a proto-Bonnie and Clyde, although since it was made well before the end of the Hays code, it feels far more wild than it is. The shooting competition scene was impressive in its suggestiveness. Lighting matches? Woo! It's really pretty darn good, and quite as good as the classic film noirs of the time. And the opening scenes of the young Bart Tare and his obsession with guns are pretty impressive. Impressively phallic. Seriously, the kid is completely obsessed with holding guns. And aren't we all?

Grace of My Heart is full of great music, retro-chic songs by the likes of Elvis Costello, J Mascis, and Sonic Youth, among others. Yeah, the movie messing with history is crazy, but it's still fun to see Brill Building and mid to late 60s Beach Boys. The problem is that the movie is melodramatic to the extreme. How many men can mistreat Illeana Douglas? Oh, every single one in the film? Ok, sounds good. Basically, the film was good, but should have been far better. Just try to make some multi-dimensional characters, and you'd have a great film.

The Brothers Grimm is a mess of a film. Nothing works like it should, and the film is hopelessly muddled. The use of fairy tales is nice, although the unnecessary confusion of details is bothersome. As much as I wanted to like it, I didn't. Probably the worst film Gilliam's done that I've seen. Damn shame.