Editorials > The Good, The Bad and What Pete Hammond Said for Nov. 23

Happy Black (Metal) Friday everyone! You're out in the cold shopping, I'm not. Oh, did I mention I slept until 9 am? Cause I did. It was awesome–and I didn't even save $10 on a digital camera! 

But today's releases are slim. We've got Enchanted–which came out Wednesday, but neglected to put on–and I'm Not There, which receives wide-release today.  I saw Todd Haynes' take on the Dylan persona back at CM, so there'll be an extra addition beside Pete Hammond. Caught Lions for Lambs yesterday while dinner was cooking. Redford's stylized take on a one-act play format is worth it, bringing up the heavy-left war analogy that leaves no one unscathed. Tom Cruise's smiling GOP Senator is incredible, especially when Valkyrie's wooden performance screens before the film. Redford does his best to channel Vietnam-as-Iraq, but poor Michael Peña being reduced to wounded gimp roles. He still manages to shine through when he's relegated to cliche lines about duty and flashbacks. 

 Anyway, on with The Good, The Bad and What Pete Hammond had to say:

Enchanted

Metacritic average: 76

Rotten Tomatoes: 93 percent

The Good: "But for a satisfying stretch, the film works its magic largely by sending up, at times with a wink, at times with a hard nudge, some of the very stereotypes that have long been this company’s profitable stock in trade."

-The New York Times, Manohla Dargis 

The Bad: "This might have been a fast-paced, extremely funny film; instead it’s a bore that will tickle young girls who fantasize about being a princess in the real world, but leave the rest of us itching for Pixar."

-The Edge, David Foucher 

And What Pete Hammond Said: "If the title makes you fear your girlfriend will be dragging you to another chick flick about lovelorn princesses and their tired "happily ever after" shtick, not to worry. Although some of that crap is here, this purely Disney confection actually manages to turn the tables on the whole genre, becoming the most inventive and wickedly clever mix of live action and animation since Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

-Maxim, Pete Hammond 

I'm Not There

Metacritic average: 74

Rotten Tomatoes: 80 percent

The Good: " I'm Not There is the movie of the year."

-The Village Voice, J. Hoberman. [Note: Seriously, this review alone blasts any negative press out of the water. Also, this is the best review for the film, hands down.] 

The Bad: " If you’ve ever been curious about experimental cinema, this is it.

Inspired by the tumultuous life and music of Bob Dylan, it’s a kaleidoscopic, non-linear meditation with little coherence. Eccentric Dylan, called by six different names, is played by six different actors – of different races and genders – each representing a phase in his chaotic life.

Dylan’s childhood is embodied by an 11 year-old African-American runaway (Marcus Carl Franklin) calling himself ‘Woody Guthrie’ in homage to the legendary musician. Riding in railroad box-cars with hoboes, he endears himself to them – and others – playing guitar.

Growing up, he becomes cryptic poet Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Wishaw) and Jack (Christian Bale), a ‘protest’ singer in Greenwich Village, whose lover is activist/folksinger Alice Fabian (Julianne Moore); Jack re-appears later as born-again Pastor John.

Then there’s Robbie (Heath Ledger), a New York actor who’s in love with French painter Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). When success overwhelms, he morphs into swaggering, drugged-out Jude Quinn (Cate Blanchett) and eventually becomes a reclusive outlaw (Richard Gere).

Writer/director Todd Haynes (“Far From Heaven”), working with writer Oren Kaufman, assumes a knowledge of Dylan that some audience members may lack, so I suspect it will appeal, primarily, to Dylan devotees.

Cate Blanchett’s androgynous performance is most memorable; ironically, she’s the only one who truly captures Dylan’s mannerisms. And Bruce Greenwood scores as an exasperated British journalist voicing my exact thoughts: “I’m not sure I follow.”

The photography and editing are commendable and the actors mainly lip-sync Dylan’s songs, so the soundtrack incorporates the work many musicians. Only at the conclusion does one glimpse the real Dylan on the harmonica. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “I’m Not There” is a bizarre, discordant, surreal 6 – definitely not a mainstream movie."

-Rotten Tomatoes, Susan Granger. [Note 2: You may wonder why I include the whole review. That's easy: it's as awful as Susan's website.] 

And What Pete Hammond Said: "And though the results are uneven in this overlong (135 minutes) dissertation of all things Dylan, when it works it soars."

-Maxim, Pete Hammond 

P.S. From Filmwad: Hands down, one of the best art films that masquerades as a mainstream release. Haynes' non-linear plot can take some getting used to, but even the skeptics will be swept over by Christian Bale's Jack and Marcus Carl Franklin. Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett add the bookend, but get over-powered by Haynes' visual ideas and song placement for their respective "timelines." Also, Granger's wrong when she claims characters morph into one another. No characters end up being the other or changing–there are hints that each exist in a respective time-line, but Haynes hammers his "persona" concept home. In a perfect world, this would get a Best Director, Best Editing and Best Picture nod.

But in a perfect world, August Rush would never have been released. 

-John Lichman