Well, as we continue on down the road into January I find myself in more dire straits when it comes to what movies to watch. Originally the plan this weekend was for Mordecai but the early reviews came in and it looks like Johnny Depp is about to have his third stinker in a row. So I went a little bit abstract this week with what to watch, finding myself in two theatres where there were a total of five people there between the two of them counting me among them, twice! In case you missed the title of this post the two movies in question were Inherent Vice and Blackhat, so let's get into it shall we?
Inherent Vice Review
Plot Summary - At the start of the 70's Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is visited by his ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston) who asks him to help her current boyfriend Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts) from being put into a mental ward. From there Doc finds himself going up against gangs, skinheads, the police, the FBI, cults and anything he comes across in his effort to find out what's really going on.
Pros - Well, the cast is fantastic and the directing is great, but that's not really the thing people are talking about when it comes to this movie.
Cons - It is, by an intents and purposes, really hard to follow what's going on. Now, not to brag, but I was able to go along with it for the most part, but even I found parts kind of confusing and I even ended having to talk parts of it over with someone who knows it better than I do. Now, I'm not holding it as a personal con against the movie, but I like to think I can speak for the masses with this blog so I'm counting as a con for everyone else. Does this bring down the rest of the movie? Not really, as most of it gets explained well at the end and I still left the movie mostly satisfied with what I saw.
Final Score - 8/10
It might be hard to follow at times, but for the parts you can it's a hell of a trip man.
Blackhat Review
Plot Summary - After a hacker takes out a Chinese nuclear plant and manipulates the american stock market, a joint task force between the Chinese and American governments bring in a man named Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) to find the hacker and bring him down.
Pros - Michael Mann's direction with the film is fantastic as the movie is visually awesome no matter what kind of scene is happening on the screen. The acting for the most part holds up as well but it's always hard to judge in spy thrillers like this because everyone has to take what's going on seriously. The most surprising thing though is how better than average the romantic subplot is.
Cons - While the visuals may be interesting, the story that it's actually trying to show you is not that compelling. You can only see so many scenes of people frantically typing keyboards before it gets kind of old. Also, it's 2015, do we really have no better way to show something being hacked instead of just following an electrical signal traveling through a wire? it was old in the 80's and it's even worse now. Hell they had better five second segments that could've done the job for them and it still convey that something is being hacked. Not to mention that the story is full of conveniences and a couple of bizarre moments and awkward dialogue. Hell there's one guy who follows them for most of the movie and he barely speaks at all and its really weird.
Final Score - 4/10
Honestly, if it wasn't for the Romantic subplot being as good as it was, this probably would've gotten a lower score despite some really good work out of Michael Mann. I'd recommend you skip this and re watch Heat or Collateral.
Now, I do have a couple of other reviews in the works, but the main thing I want to announce is I'm going to another Film Festival. If you live in Canada, Cineplex Cinemas is having it's Great Digital Film Festival next week, and there's five movies playing I want to see (mostly because I've already seen the rest of the movies they have playing) and they just so happen to all be playing on the same day. So, expect 5 retro reviews in the coming weeks.
Until then, I'll see you folks at the movies.
Inherent Vice is a truly beautiful piece, and in the spirit of the film, which is quite a skill. t
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