Did the pairing of the words Winslet and Mendes lead many of the country's film critics to take leave of their senses? Because having finally watched one of last year's most-lauded films my response is: "you've got to be f-ing kidding." That thing was abysmal. Oh sure, it was shiny enough, and Ms. Winslet looked great in her vintage attire. And true, it had the horribly overbearing music and self-important shot selection that's sadly associated with many an Oscar nominee. So to the extent that it played to the Academy's taste for things both better-looking and more heavy-handed than you'll see on Lifetime, I get its laurels in a way. But still, it just really wasn't very good. At all. The exact same thing was covered in a number of plays and movies that were actually produced in the 1950s and 1960s - and it was done much better by the likes of Nicholas Ray and Britain's Angry Young Men. This thing was thin, predictable, boring, unpleasant, and about as subtle as Aretha Franklin belting out an anthem while also playing the cymbals. Like I said, there are some positives on the side (Kathy Bates for instance, and naturally, given the source material, there are some good lines), but on the whole this stunk and I'm really glad the star won her Oscar for The Reader instead.
Posted by armand at August 25, 2009 08:40 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Movies