Film round-up #3: Westboro Baptist Church, the Bob Dylan paradox, and Nicolas Cage hilarity

A strange mix of films this week! All of these films seemed to have a strange character balance, a mishmash of protagonists, or just convoluted plots: but all seemed to work in their own special way.

Just a hilarious film, with some hilariously bad death scenes, and hilariously wooden acting. A send-up of the propaganda film, this is pitched absolutely perfectly. Loved it.

I was unfortunately quite tired whilst watching this, and therefore probably didn’t enjoy it to its full potential. A black and white French film that built slowly, it certainly keeps up the tension, with the completely silent heist scene being particularly tense, although probably too long. Although I could see what the aim was, I’m not sure it worked for me, perhaps just because I was too tired. The ending saddened me, but this was a good heist film, albeit with a dubious, unemotional ending.

This film was fantastic! But also strange. Taking the idea of Fred Pheps and the Westboro Baptist Church and turning it into a horror film, this was a scary look at extremist views on homosexuality, and thus on America. It was a strange film, as it occasionally put in some humorous lines that slightly jarred with the film, and it was also strange as there was no apparent protagonist. If anything, by the end it seemed that John Goodman’s character was the protagonist, but he wasn’t introduced till halfway through the film. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just meant that every time you started rooting for a character, something would happen to them and suddenly you’d have to find a new character. I wasn’t sure as a result what the ‘moral’, if any, was by the end, as at various times I was rooting for different people. Should we be treating these people as humans? Or should we do what this film did and shoot them all down? Despite these oddities, it was a successful horror film, with some worrying implications.

I’ve been reading the online reviews of this, and have decided that the critics are talking bullshit. The ones who know what they’re talking about are us plebs. I don’t think this film was meant to be understood: it is, by its nature, fragmented and confusing, often making no sense whatsoever, yet at the same time philosophizing about its own meaning. This is Bob Dylan, or the Bob Dylan that they are trying to show. Therefore what we are left with is a disjointed but beautiful picture that both demystifies the icon as well as making him into this intangible object that gives him a form of mythic status. Therein seems to be paradox that is Bob Dylan. ETA: Incredible acting all around. Particularly Cate Blanchett, who captured the spoilt, drug-addled philosophizer perfectly.

Yet another strange film! Great Michael Bay action, and just what I’d expect: over the top action scenes with a plot that borders on science fiction in its elaborate ridiculousness. Sean Connery as the most dangerous man on the planet was laughable, but we rolled with it because he is just so personable, and Nicolas Cage as a biochemical expert was just hilarious. Every time the movie was getting serious, his face would appear on screen and once more I could not take it seriously. His ‘Rocket Man’ line was particularly funny, as it was obviously supposed to be one of those one-liners a la Arnie, but was so convoluted and poorly executed that it inadvertently provided the biggest laugh of the film. Absolutely loved it. On a side note: I noticed that Hans Zimmer’s score for this was frustratingly similar to both Gladiator and Pirates of the Caribbean. Very disappointing. It also seemed to rip off Faure’s Pavane. Some more creativity please, Zimmer!! The fact that Gladiator was so critically acclaimed now seems like a hollow achievement, when it now seems that The Rock acted as a first draft. Hmph.