I'm Not There, Nanking, Breakin', & Fat Man and Little Boy

I'm Not There was a mess. Good ideas, lots of talent (Todd Haynes needs to make more movies), and I am a big Dylan fan, but the artifice just kept dragging me out of being involved in the movie. And Richard Gere's section was just a mess. Cate Blanchett was great though, and it's hard to hate too much on it, but I just should've rewatched No Direction Home.

Nanking is a depressing film about the Japanese raping and pillaging their way through what was a huge city in China in 1937. Hundreds of thousands were murdered (including some decapitations), tens of thousands of women raped, and children were bayonetted for no real reason. Seriously, fuck all those people who claim that Nanking didn't happen or that it was exaggerated. They're just as insane as Holocaust revisionists. Denying that massacres happened when there's photographic and firsthand evidence is just insane. Japanese nationalists are some of the worst, denying so many things that there's so much evidence for. The movie's use of famous actors was slightly distracting at first, but I quickly became more and more involved and fascinated by the story. If you aren't a Japanese fascist, you'll find this movie horrifying and a must watch.

Breakin' is terrible. The acting, directing, writing, and everything about it is bad. It also, frequently, suffers from the worst thing that a movie can do: quick cutting, hiding the actual talent of those on display. Also, why use a broom on a wire? Everything else is kinda possible. Joe Piscopo? Maybe you should get a suit that remotely fits you. Ugh. Here's the thing about this movie: big plot points are dependent upon being able to tell who won a dance-off, but I couldn't tell who was winning at any point, and the only way I knew the second one was over was because I was trying to pay attention to Ice-T rap talking in the background, narrating the fight. The movie is a horrible mess, about what you'd expect of a movie produced by the writer-director of The Apple. Still, I have to watch Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. It's on the DVR!

Fat Man and Little Boy has a great cast and tells an interesting story. Roland Joffe is one of those names I'm familiar with and respect the guy, but honestly, looking at his IMDB listing, I see: an uncredited turn on Super Mario Brothers, The Scarlet Letter, an episode of Undressed(?!?), the disappointing Vatel (which I saw less than a month before I restarted blogging), the unseen by me (but well-reviewed) The Mission, and the excellent The Killing Fields. So I get this feeling that I have a positive impression of him based entirely upon how good The Killing Fields is, and conveniently forget about how execrable The Scarlet Letter was. I liked it, but it kinda dragged on a little long.